Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Indians "Core" under contract

I came across this post on another blog and it shows the contract situation for the Indians "core" players and when they are free agents. Hopefully we can keep the good young players from getting away or giving up on them to early, ie Jeremy Guthrie. Either way it looks like the Indians have locked up most of the players through 2011.

From The Dia Tribe Blog:

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The “Core” Corps

The news that Hafner has signed a 4-year, $57M extension means that another one of the “core” players has been locked up for the long term. Going into the season, the Tribe faced the prospect of losing Jake Westbrook after this season and Hafner and C.C. after next season to Free Agency. Westbrook, obviously, has been taken care of, and now, with Hafner in the mix (the C.C. discussion will be touched on in a bit), the following players are locked up through the corresponding years:
Hafner through 2013 (club option in 2013)
Sizemore through 2012 (club option in 2012)
Peralta through 2011 (club option in 2011)
Victor through 2010 (club option in 2010) Westbrook through 2010
Lee through 2010 (club option in 2010)
That’s 4 of the 9 positions (and the 4 best position players on the team) in the lineup and 40% of the rotation locked up through 2010.

Now consider the young players under the Indians’ control until their first year of FA year indicated:
Barfield – FA after 2011 season
Carmona – FA after 2012 season
Garko – FA after 2012 season
Mastny – FA after 2013 season
Perez – FA after 2013 season
Shoppach – FA after 2011 season
Sowers – FA after 2012 season

Figuring that Barfield and Garko/Shoppach take up 2 more positions (with Garko and Shoppach’s future tied to where Victor eventually ends up), that’s 6 of the 9 positions locked up for 3 more years AFTER this season.
In 2010, the lineup should include the emerging talent of Sizemore, Barfield, Peralta, Hafner, Peralta, and either Garko or Shoppach. To call that solid would be an understatement. The inclusion of Hafner in that lineup serves as the bedrock that everyone else can feed off.