Indians Jake Westbrook shaky in winter league return

Jake Westbrook was slated to go two innings tonight for Leones de Ponce, but was pulled out of his first winter league game after only 1 2/3 innings. Westbrook gave up three hits, a walk and an earned run, without striking out a batter. Westbrook did induce four ground balls outs of his five batters, which certainly sounds like the Westbrook we are all familiar with.

I'm fairly certain that Westbrook was pulled from the game because of pitch count and not elbow soreness. He faced nine total batters, and his pitch count likely reached it's limit. I'll be looking forward to the reports tomorrow from those that either saw the game, or talked to Westbrook or Eduardo Perez, the Ponce manager.

If Westbrook managed to get through his inning and two-thirds without elbow soreness, the Indians may have taken their first step towards settling their rotation. Granted, with Westbrook, the rotation will struggle. Without him, well, it makes MY elbow sore just thinking about it.