When the Cleveland Indians entered the 2017 season, their rotation represented the backbone of their World Series aspirations and the advantage they held over other American League teams. But Cleveland's arms have been a weak spot recently, no starter more so than Danny Salazar. So with ace Corey Kluber headed back from the disabled list, Cleveland announced Salazar is headed to the bullpen.

It's a tough break for a pitcher who offered an extreme fantasy ceiling. The 27-year-old righty always showed flashes in his time as a starter with supreme strikeout ability that when he was able to locate his pitches and generate swings and misses, made him a premium fantasy starter. But those starts were often outnumbered by outings where he wouldn't make it five-plus innings, walked a handful of batters and surrendered loud hits.

The worst of it has come this season for Salazar. Across 52 1/3 innings pitched, 10 starts, the righty has walked 28 batters, surrendered 55 hits and allowed 11 home runs. His 5.50 ERA and 4.67 FIP were just the final result of poor outing after poor outing, while his amount of innings pitched in five starts shows just how frequently he could even reach the sixth inning on average.

Now Salazar moves into a long relief role, where he will only have to see opposing hitters once in an outing and can spend more time trying to improve his 4.82 BB/9. But his move to the pen also erases his fantasy value and in season-long leagues with 14 or fewer teams, it's likely time for fantasy owners to cut bait and dump him into the free agent pool.

Salazar's demotion to the bullpen does allow Mike Clevinger to stick in the rotation. It's a very well earned spot for the 26-year-old who has excelled in four starts since Kluber went down. Across 22 1/3 innings, Clevinger allowed just 14 hits and posted a 25/14 K/BB ratio with a sparkling 2.82 ERA. If he's still somehow available in your league pick him up as a great source of strikeouts, quality innings and potential wins.