Indians and Carmona Agree on New Deal

Up until Thursday afternoon, the biggest home run hit was probably Travis Hafner’s two run shot on Tuesday night. But Mark Shapiro trumped that in a big way. Shapiro, the Indians GM, cranked a homer, metaphorically speaking. Shapiro locked up young ace starter, Fausto Carmona, to a long term deal on Thursday.

The right hander and the Indians agreed to a 4 year deal that pays out 15 million dollars. The Tribe also holds a three year option that could make the deal worth as much as 7 years to the tune of 48 million. Carmona, who was the surprise story last season, won his way to 19 games, and showed poise beyond his years. The deal locks up the future of the club’s starting rotation through at least 2014.

The deal also gives the Indians options. It has been widely reported that the parties who represent CC Sabathia, who is eligible to be a free agent this coming off season, and the Indians have broken off contract talks until the end of the season. The deal, however, in no way means the Indians are not interested in Sabathia. But the deal does give the Indians stability in case CC decides to leave town.
Shapiro cited Carmona’s toughness, that led him to sign this deal, which is the highest guarantee a club can make to a pre-arbitration eligible starter. Whether it was his resiliency during Carmona’s disastrous time as the Indians closer, or the now infamous ALDS Game Two that saw Lake Erie midges swarm then Jacobs Field, Carmona has fought through the adversity. "This is a guy who has shown he wants to be great," Mark Shapiro said. "He has exceptional toughness, exceptional talent and intelligence. Those things combined with his work ethic made this a very easy decision."
But most importantly what it does is lock up another piece of a core of young players the Indians already have signed to long term deals. The Tribe had already signed Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez, Grady Sizemore, Jake Westbrook, Jhonny Peralta, and Cliff Lee to multi year deals. The only thing that Cleveland did not have was a starting rotation ace. Carmona is that ace. Shapiro’s move shows the Indians commitment to not only winning, but also being financially responsible as well. The club has made a habit of signing its young stars to long term deals, before it was necessary, and so far it has paid off. The young core of players led the Indians to a win away from the World Series last year.
So the Indians might be struggling out of the gate on the early season, but the biggest move was done on the second off day of the season. The Indians have locked up another piece to the puzzle, and they did it in a sound financial move. At the end of the season there may be towering homers, awesome strikeouts, and terrific defensive highlights to remember. But maybe the biggest play of 2008 has already been made, and it wasn’t made on the field.