It's Stiff

It looks as though th Indians brass has finally made their decision on the 5th starter. In a shock to nobody, Cliff Lee has taken the job thanks to a solid spring. In his last outing, he went five scoreless and most likely nailed it down with that performance.

Our take: This was bound to happen. Stiff Lee is a bad guy and a clubhouse cancer. Notice the team's performance picked up when he was sent to Buffalo? We think it was no coincidence. He is a head-case and when things go bad for him, he loses his control. Maybe we will see the guy who won 18 games a few years back this year. We hope so, but the good news is that Aaron Laffey and Jeremy Sowers will be in the Buffalo rotation getting regular work.

More good news for the Indians pitching staff; veteran lefty reliever Aaron Fultz will be released, while fellow lefty Craig Breslow was claimed off of waivers from Boston and could take Fultz's spot.

Our take: Goodbye and Good Riddance Fultzy. This guy never showed anything after mid-May last year, throws a flat pitch with no zip on it, and could not be counted in an key situations. The main issue is that the Indians were dumb enough to pick up his option in December and now essentially cost themselves his $1.5 million salary. Give props to Shappy for cutting his losses with Fultz. The Breslow thing I don't get. His numbers were unimpressive and reportedly his big issue is control problems. It's nice to be a lefty, isn't it? Why claim this 27 year old scrub instead of keeping both Tom Mastny and either Jorge Julio or Scott Elarton (potential long man)?