During a month when instability continued to rock the other Cleveland sports franchises, the Indians proved that they are not like the rest.
The Indians on Tuesday announced they have signed Josh Tomlin to a two-year extension with a club option for 2018. Zack Meisel of cleveland.com confirmed that $2.25 million, a figure agreed upon nearly two weeks ago when the Indians avoided arbitration with Tomlin, will be his 2016 salary. He will earn $2.5 million in 2017 and the club option is worth $3 million, or the team can pay Tomlin a $750,000 buyout.
The deal also contains various performance bonuses which, at the time of this publishing, are not known.
What is known, however, is the Indians continue stabilize the core of their starting rotation in pursuit of Cleveland’s first World Series championship since 1948. The Indians already have Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar, Trevor Bauer and Cody Anderson under team control for the foreseeable future.
The 31-year old veteran starter will look to continue the bounce-back from right-shoulder surgery which he underwent in the spring.
His 2015 was solid despite going under the kniff, logging 65 2/3 innings whiling holding the opposition to 47 hits (.195 average) and only eight walks. He tossed a pair of complete games in September. On Sept. 4, he limited Detroit to one run on four hits over nine innings of an 8-1 Tribe win. Eleven days later, he held the Royals to two runs on four hits, but the Indians lost, 2-0. He went on to finish with a 3.02 ERA despite a 4.43 FIP due to a very low .199 BABIP which is unlikely to be sustained in 2016.
Early season projections for 2016 reflect a lot of regression. ZIPS has slated Tomlin for a 4.45 ERA and 4.16 FIP and a normal .286 BABIP.
This is not to suggest that Tomlin will not be worth his value. Stability in the rotation is sometimes worth it’s weight in gold, especially when attrition and fatigue can fatally hit any big-league rotation late in a pennant race.
Having a deep rotation can mean a difference between a early exit or a deep postseason run.
Tomlin will provide that depth.
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