Cleveland Indians pitcher Corey Kluber makes about minimum wage when it comes to paying Major League Baseball players. That’s great for the Tribe now, but soon it will cost the team a lot more, possibly to the point where he couldn’t be afforded, unless action is taken sooner than later. The Indians certainly don’t have to sign pitcher Corey Kluber to a long-term contract right now, but they should. Kluber just completed one of the best seasons in team history and won the Cy Young award, one of four Indians players to accomplish this. The team was afforded the luxury to pay Kluber just a fraction of what he was worth in 2014 with a salary of $514,000. He’s on track to earn about the same in 2015. Just entering his third season in the Major Leagues at age 29, the team’s No. 1 starter isn’t even eligible for arbitration until at least the 2016 season. If the team wanted to save as much cash as possible in 2015 they can do so and are under no obligation to pay Kluber a significantly higher salary. So why shouldn’t the Indians benefit financially from another season essentially paying Kluber baseball’s minimum wage?
What happens if Kluber continues to be dominant, duplicates his 2014 season and wins a second Cy Young award? He might not have another dream season like that, but what if he posts similar numbers or is fairly close? Let’s say he is just as good in 2015 or has a top 5 pitching season in the American League. His value certainly isn’t going to go down.
Imagine what an arbitrator might award him in salary in 2016 at that time, if he and the team can’t strike a deal. Looking at two great seasons in a row and one pretty solid season before that in 2013, I could see the potential for his salary with these credential to jump up to $15 million or even higher for 2016 and it could continue to rise annually in arbitration awards each year if he keeps pitching well. It’s likely the Indians would do what they could to avoid arbitration like they do with most players, but any deal struck at that time would become more expensive to retain Kluber’s services at that time than it would now.
I don’t have any reason, outside of injury, to believe Kluber is going to suddenly regress in 2015 and he could be just as good or even better because he’s figured out what makes him successful. He’s in the prime of his career and should be a good pitcher into his early 30s.
Here’s something else, we know what team management did not too long ago when two Cy Young pitchers become too expensive. Yes, they got traded (CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee). Can you imagine how that would go over with Indians fans? The night Kluber won the Cy Young and even the next day social media and Cleveland radio sports talk shows were abuzz with concerns the Indians were going to trade their star pitcher. Most of the talk was obviously unfounded because people weren’t informed that Kluber remains under Indians control and is not eligible for free agency until after the 2018 season, but the point is, the team’s frequent reluctance to pay star players when they are at top level is a genuine concern and continues to be a perception problem. The Indians to their credit have recently taken steps to lock up promising players early like Jason Kipnis, Yan Gomes and Michael Brantley when it wasn’t certain those guys would be star players.
A perceived reluctance to spend by ownership also plays a role (but isn’t the only reason) as to why the Tribe isn’t a big draw with fans at the ticket office, despite drawing huge audiences on television. There still is, although there shouldn’t be, a hangover that lingers in many fans’ minds from the Sabathia and Lee trades. Locking up Kluber now can help with that. More importantly, appeasing fans is not the main reason to sign Kluber long-term. Rather, I think it makes more financial sense to do it now. I think Kluber would consider signing a deal now rather than wait another year or two and he would likely do it at a much cheaper price because he would be provided long-term financial security immediately and be rewarded for a great season.
Yes, he’s already made more than $1.05 million in his Big League career. Not bad for most of us, but not really enough for someone to live on for the rest of his life at age 28 or for a professional baseball player with this amount of success. White Sox starter Chris Sale, who finished third in the Cy Young voting in 2014, was in a similar position as Kluber when he signed a 5-year, $32.5 million deal from 2013 through 2017. His deal also includes team options in 2018 for $12.5 million and in 2019 for $13.5 million with $1 million team buyouts for those two years. It’s worth noting that Sale is only 25 now so he was locked up long-term at younger age, but there always is risk with young pitcher who didn’t have a proven track record at that time. Sale took the money and ran and also was likely to figure when his contract runs out that he would be young enough to get paid again and much more handsomely, if he continued to pitch well. However, it’s quite possible that Kluber, who will be 29 in 2015, realistically only has one chance to reach the big long-term payday and does he want to risk something that could jeopardize that?
Kluber has only gotten better since he became a full-time MLB pitcher in 2013, and again, I don’t have any reason to doubt he won’t continue to perform at a high level for several years to come. But what if he has an injury two years or even three years from now and isn’t the same? He’ll never get that big long-term deal and the security that comes with it. The Indians need to take the risk that Kluber is going to be healthy and that he’s going to continue to be a very good MLB pitcher for at least the next five or six years.
A contract higher than Sale’s wouldn’t be out of the question. How about 5 years at $55 million with team options for 2020 and 2021? The contract could be backloaded paying him less up front (but more than he would have to be paid now) and more at the end (but less than his market value would be at that time). It also buys out two free agent years in 2018 and 2019 and potentially more if the team options are exercised. If you’re going to make an investment to keep the best pitcher in the American League, do it now rather than later, when the risk for Kluber to earn a much larger payday becomes greater and likelihood lessens that he would agree to a smaller deal.
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