Current Cleveland Indians Contractual Obligations

With the official contract agreements between the Cleveland Indians and their arbitration eligible players all finalized (with the exception of Trevor Bauer) we now have a pretty good idea of what their payroll obligations will be for the start of the 2018 season. The following chart breaks down the contract situation for each player who has reached the Major Leagues and is still under team control for the Cleveland Indians. Numbers in light blue are guaranteed salaries, dark blue are the amounts owed if all options are exercised, dark red mean a player is subject to the MLB minimum salary as a pre-arbitration eligible player and light red spaces show years of arbitration.

Notes:

• Prearb and arbitration seasons are not official/set in stone beyond 2019. These are based on service time and the years listed above are essentially the minimum amount of time a player will be under team control.
• The guaranteed minimum salaries listed above include only salaries that have already been agreed upon and assume all options will be bought out/declined.
• Many of the upcoming option seasons will obviously not be declined, however, particularly those of Carlos Carrasco in 2019 and 2020 and Corey Kluber in 2020 and 2021 as they are significantly below market value.
• 2018 represents the end of the horrible Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn contracts as the Indians had to buyout the final year of Chris Johnson’s previous contract. Johnson spent 2017 with the Orioles in the minors and is currently a free agent.
• Thanks to his extended stay in the Majors last year, Nick Goody has already hit Super 2 status and will have four years of arbitration eligibility.
• The projected 25 man salary for 2018 includes the $6.525M that Trevor Bauer would get if he wins his arbitration case. If he loses, he will make $5.3M although there is still an opportunity for the two sides to come together on an amount between those numbers. MLB Trade Rumors originally projected him at $7.7M.
• While the Indians were hurt by four major free agents departing after the 2017 season, they already stand to lose six after 2019 including their top two relievers in Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. Brandon Guyer also has a $250K buyout for his $3M option and could be gone as well.
• Of the younger players who the Indians may or may not want to send to AAA Columbus:
  • Erik Gonzalez, Giovanny Urshela, Ryan Merritt and Rob Refsnyder are out of MiLB options and would have to be sent through waivers if they don’t break camp on the 25 man roster or DL.
  • Tyler Olson, Cody Anderson, Abraham Almonte, Mike Clevinger and Shawn Morimando have one MiLB option left.
  • Adam Plutko, Tyler Naquin, Yandy Diaz and Francisco Mejia have two options left.
    • Option numbers according to RosterResource.com