Trevor Bauer headed to the Cleveland Indians bullpen "for now"

It’s been a rough season for Trevor Bauer; rough enough for manager Terry Francona to announce today that the man of a thousand pitches will be sent to the bullpen for the time being. There is currently no timetable on how long the switch will remain, but Tito "thinks he could start again this year."

Bauer had some pockets of success in 2015, but he has not quite lived up to the type of pitcher the Indians wanted out of the 24-year-old. In 29 starts for the Tribe this year, Bauer holds a 4.71 ERA along with an 8.84 K/9 and 4.07 BB/9. His 168 innings of work are the most he has pitched in the Majors as a starter, and his 39.2% groundball rate is the second-highest of his short career.

The move is most likely the result of Corey Kluber coming back from an injury and Trevor Bauer’s own ineffectiveness combined with the effectiveness of Cody Anderson and Josh Tomlin in their filler roles while Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco have sporadically been out with injuries. The Tribe’s playoff hopes are the in the balance and they are not in a position to play Bauer Roulette every week and hope they land on the good pitcher and not several home runs to the head.

For now, the starting rotation will be Kluber starting tonight, Anderson starting tomorrow, Carrasco on Saturday, Tomlin on Sunday, Salazar on Tuesday and Kluber next Wednesday.