The Faustastic Voyage Will Continue
Well, the reason for the 3 PM Press Conference down at Progressive Field has been revealed:
“The Indians have signed right-hander Fausto Carmona to a multiyear contract extension, ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney is reporting. The deal is guaranteed through 2011 with club options for 2012, 2013 and 2014. No monetary terms have been disclosed yet. The team will formally announce the extension at a 3 p.m. ET news conference.”
Club options until 2014! CLUB options that mean no guaranteed money past 2011!
Wowza, wowza…this is absolutely FANTASTIC news for Tribe fans as the Indians’ burgeoning ace (the one who has looked like an ace this year) is potentially locked down for the next 6 seasons PAST this year, with the guaranteed money only covering the next 3 years after this year.
Little risk, high reward while buying out the first TWO years of Carmona’s Free Agent years.
Much more on this later…I have to go order my Fausto jersey.
As an aside, you must think my closet is full of custom jerseys with as many as I purport myself to order. Unless you’re counting my Chris Spielman Browns’ jersey that my buddy “bought” for me for $10 after Spielman retired as a joke…it isn’t.
Addendum with correct salary numbers
It looks like the deal is worth $15M over this year and the next three years, representing the only guaranteed money in the deal with the overall contract numbers breaking down like this:
2008 - $1.25M
2009 - $2.75M
2010 - $4.9M
2011 - $6.1M
2012 - $7M club option (goes to $9M with escalators)
2013 - $9M club option (goes to $11M with escalators)
2014 - $12M club option (goes to $14M with escalators)
Tell me the downside of this contract for this for the Tribe?
If Carmona flames out or is injured (everyone find wood to knock on), they owe him exactly $15M over 4 years. Not a huge commitment, right?
If Carmona progresses as he has for the past two years, or even maintains a level of excellence close to it, the Indians hold the option every off-season until 2014 to exercise their option on him for (what is certain to be in 2012, much less 2014) a very affordable salary.
Obviously, you understand where Carmona’s coming from on this with the guaranteed money coming his way right away, particularly (and this sounds terrible to say, but it’s true) with what happened to his good friend Juan Lara in the off-season, showing that tomorrow is never guaranteed. But the level of control that the Indians achieved in this signing, having him under contract through his 30th birthday (he’ll turn 31 in December of 2014) is unbelievable.
Another stellar extension of a youngster by the Indians brass as the bright future of this team just got a little brighter with this news, particularly at the top end of the rotation…until 2014!
Posts
19 comments:
Any chance of receiving something of value for C.C. before season's end, or will we be forced to watch another star (Manny, Thome) run out of town with moneybags in-hand?
I had a feeling this news would bring up the C.C. talk, but I thought the imprudence of trading the reigning Cy Young Award winner on a team that is trying to win a WS championship had been sufficiently touched on.
To re-address it, the 2008 Indians have a look at the championship, and the team with C.C. has a better chance to win than a team without him.
No package that he will net is going to sufficiently replace him in the rotation.
So, as painful as it will be to watch him "run out of town", trading him for prospects (which is what 1/2 a season of C.C. will get) just isn't smart.
Could that change if the Tribe has zero chance of making the playoffs come July 31st?
I suppose, but that scenario isn't likely.
Fair enough.
Have you posted your custom C.C. jersey on eBay yet?
I suppose you can't blame C.C. if he leaves, both Manny and Thome got their money as well as a combined total of 3 World Series rings while Cleveland is still searching for its first. Of course C.C. will get his this year (with Cleveland).
C.C. Ya Later, you sound like you ventured over from the cleveland.com forums, with your negativity and incorrect information. First of all, Manny has 2 rings and Thome has none. In fact, Thome (like Belle) has been riddled with injuries and hasn't even been to the playoffs since he left (with some very solid play mixed in as well). So, he is proof that overextending the team for an individual isn't always good. And secondly, he's proof that the grass isn't always greener for a couple million more.
Secondly, this signing is outstanding. Sure, we may not have CC in 2009, but for all I know, I may be dead too. We do know we'll have an ace in Carmona and a very solid team and lots of money IF he walks...and perhaps a championship. Go rain on someone else's parade.
Cy, my mistake, you are correct. Thome joined the White Sox in 2006 a year after they won the world series, I should have researched this.
Also, I don’t know that it is fair to mention Joey’s name in same context as Thome. I wasn’t that upset to see him (Belle) leave, because I believed talent alone doen’t make you a great baseball player. If you’re a jerk you can hurt your team as much as you help it.
Sorry, if you think my comments are taking away from the significance of Fausto’s signing, that wasn’t my intention. I was only curious what others were thinking about C.C.’s likely departure. This was obviously bad timing on my part.
Let me also take this opportunity to clarify that I have not ventured over the cleveland.com forums. I haven’t frequented the cleveland.com website since late last summer when it seamed the PD was unaware of the fact that Indians were about to win the division. This was actually my first attempt at posting a comment in any type of sports-related forum. Don’t worry, you fiery response won’t deter me from posting in the future.
Finally, the point I forgot to mention in my previous post was that we won without Manny, we won without Thome and we WILL win with or without C.C.
no worries, welcome aboard! i didn't mean to chastise you, but from your initial comments i thought you were cut from the same mold as the other clevelanders that cry about our stars leaving us and we never win anything, etc...ignoring the fact that the indians have built an outstanding team.
the cleveland.com forums are a running joke here due to the comments we see.
Now that you guys have kissed and made up tell me something.....do you still get that gawd-awfull feeling in your gut every time CC gets into trouble...the one you don't seem to get when Carmona gets into trouble?
I'm not gonna make too big of a deal outta 2 early season starts but CC still looks like the CC who pitched in the playoffs while Fausto for the most part looks like the dude who was dominant last season. If CC is still struggling by the end of May, then I'll blame either a) all the innings last year and b) the looming free agency.
Locking up Fausto is good stuff...shows a commitment from the owner and GM to lock up players who perform. Its right out of the John Hart playbook. Now if we could just find an every day left fielder.
The Tribe's front office is awesome. I mean...They are REALLY good at what they do...now let's sweep the A's and get this thing going!
Can't really blame CC Ya Later, when I heard of this signing the FIRST thing I thought of was the Crooked Cap. If he stays, he stays...If he goes, he goes, but there will be no crying out of the RD, because anyone is replacable...except for LBJ. If he walks, I will be crying like a little girl, as the Cavs will be doomed for ten more years.
Three comments from three consecutive days....someone must be bored on Spring Break!
mt,
Great point.
Why do I always feel like Carmona is simply one sinker and one groundout away from working out of trouble while bracing for the inning that C.C. blows up?
Because I watch the games.
The singing of Fausto has ZERO implications on CC staying or leaving because he wasn't going to anyway. The Indians will not, and should not, give him $20 mill a year for 5+.
I'm back.....and I love it. Once again, the front office shows why they are top notch. Not only with the signing, but yet we see another youngster groomed in house grow into a core player.
Off Topic(!)
Nice to see you, halifax. :-)
(Steve in Westlake)
Halifax,
Likewise, haven't seen your name in a while.
Agreed completely on Fausto and CC. Those who are saying that the Indians gave Carmona 7 years, which is where they won't go on CC (and rightfully so), don't understand the concept of team options and guaranteed money. Carmona's deal is in line with their organizational belief that 3 years is about as long as they like to go on pitchers' contracts and 4 years is for special cases only.
4 years guaranteed, at a relatively low number, for a 24-year old who projects to be a perennial Cy Young contender...yeah, that's a special case.
The club options are just gravy on mashed potatoes.
whats that? you want whipped cream on your gravy and mashed potatoes!?!? well let me show you how the piggy eats.
dave dellucci's contract:
3 years, $11.5m - $3.83mil/year
fausto's new deal:
4 years, $15m - 3.75mil/year
if that doesn't put a smile on your face, you have serious issues
I wavered last year on getting a CC jersey as part of my birthday gift, but with the new Fausto deal, I'm definitely pulling the trigger on a jersey this year and I'm with pc it's gonna be a Fausto kinda jersey wearing season. Hell yeah. (Sorry Martinez, you just got relegated I still love you though).
By the way, it's Friday night, the game has been on ten minutes and CC has given up a run. This is not the way to relax after a stressful week of work.
Nice call Mink
"..do you still get that gawd-awfull feeling in your gut every time CC gets into trouble...the one you don't seem to get when Carmona gets into trouble?"
CC implodes in 3, anyone concerned?
Hi Steve, thanks, good to hear from you. I didn't know you were over here. Paul, you run a great blog. As far as I'm concerned this is the Tribe place to be.
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