The Game of Baseball

The Cleveland Indians appear serious about keeping a core member of their starting pitching around for quite a while as the team, according to the Associated Press and Buster Olney from ESPN The Magazine, and starting pitcher Fausto Carmona have agreed to a 4-year, $15 million contract - a deal that could be worth as much as $48 million; the deal matches the highest amount guaranteed to a pre-arbitration starting pitcher (the other being St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright), and it's the highest guaranteed deal for a starting pitcher with only 1+ year of playing time.

The Carmona signing is protection of sorts in the event that they cannot keep C.C. Sabathia in the fold; Sabathia is eligible for free agency following this season, and the team is working diligently to retain him. Carmona will receive a signing bonus of $750,000 and guaranteed salaries of $500,000 this year, $2.75 million in 2009, $4.9 million in 2010 and $6.1 million in 2011. In addition, the Indians have options for $7 million in 2012, $9 million in 2013 and $14 million in 2014. The price of the first option could rise by $1 million and the price of the other two by $2 million each.