Cleveland Indians: A Bullpen Call to Arms: Part One

. As we all know, Jackson was part of the infamous CC Sabathia deal in July. He made nine starts for the Tribe down the stretch, finishing with a 5.55 ERA.

He is by no stretch overpowering or flashy, but did do a respectable job. He enters this season out of options, and must be on the 25-man roster unless the Indians try to sneak him through waivers.

He could start the season in the rotation, but that is unlikely with other similar options present and Jackson being left-handed. He would be the second left-hander in the bullpen, helping to alleviate Rafael Perez from those duties and keeping Perez late in games where he belongs.

While Jackson has only a small sample size of major league experience versus left-handed hitters, his minor league splits suggest that he can get leftys out with a .263 BAA and a solid 3.5 K/BB ratio against left-handed hitters.

By no means is Jackson going to be the difference in the bullpen, and time will tell if he even sticks, but he initially looks to give the Indians options. He can go long, spot start, go into the rotation in case of injury, or be called upon to get a lefty out. Hopefully, the latter becomes his specialty, because his career as a starter will not last.

Working backwards, Masa Kobayashi will be next on the depth chart.

Signed with thoughts of him being the Indians version of Hideki Okajima, Kobayashi slowly turned into his hot-dog eating champion alter ego as the season wound down. Kobayashi past his usual innings worked load in August and found himself sparingly used by Eric Wedge the last six weeks of the season to save him from completely crashing.

The Indians still have Kobayashi locked through 2009 and own a 2010 club option. He will be on the team, but expectations have been lowered for the 34-year-old Japanese right-hander after his rookie campaign led to a very average 4.53 ERA.

He will likely start as a middle innings reliever with a slight hint of promise if he can keep his 89 MPH fastball in the ballpark. Kobayashi does have good command of the strike zone, not walking many batters, and does get a high number of groundballs. Don’t discount him just yet, but the Indians should remain cautious.

Following Masa on my hypothetical depth chart to enter 2009 is Rafael Betancourt

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