Adam Miller May Be in Cleveland Pitching for the Indians Sooner Than Later

Of all the the lousy luck for Indians pitching prospect, Adam Miller. Despite an impressive spring training camp that includes 14 innings of not allowing a run to major league hitters, he appears to be headed, for now at least, to start the season at Class AAA Buffalo.

Miller just happens to be competing for a starting spot on the starting pitching rich Cleveland Indians this spring, and the bad news for him is that the Indians have 6 starting pitchers ahead of him, including the injured Cliff Lee, jockeying for five starting slots. So, despite the fact that Miller's most likely last spring training assignment before heading off to minor league camp included 5 shutout innings against the Atlanta Braves, it will not be enough to change the minds of Eric Wedge and his pitching coach Carl Willis to allow Miller to fill in for the injured Lee until his return to the rotation. Right now, Fausto Carmona is slated to fill that slot, and even though he also has had a nice camp, the deciding factor in Carmona's favor has to be the fact that he might be a bit more versatile, and has the experience of being with the team last season in a variety of roles, including one disastrous stint as the closer after the departure of Bob Wickman to the Braves.

However Miller's emergence, the injury to Lee to start the season, the continued improvement of Jeremy Sowers after his starting debut last year, and concern over whether or not last years free agent signee Paul Byrd can return to form has stirred things up a bit for the Indians management, albeit in a good way.

For starters, the rotation announced by manger Eric Wedge to start the season looks like this, #1 will of course be C.C. Sabathia, followed by the "innings eater" and always steady Jake Westbrook at #2. The surprise though, is the fact that last years pleasant surprise, Jeremy Sowers has supplanted the veteran Paul Byrd for the #3 slot in the rotation, with Byrd dropping to #4 and Carmona filling in as the #5 starter until Lee's return, which at this time is still undetermined.