The Indians have locked up another starting pitcher returning from last season.
According to various sources, the team has signed RHP Carlos Carrasco to a contract extension. It is a four-year contract valued around $38 million and includes Carrasco’s 2015 salary of around $2.55 million and tacks on three more seasons, running through his first year of free agency. Carrasco’s deal runs through 2018 with club options for 2019 and 2020.It also includes club options for two more seasons, potentially keeping Carrasco with the Indians through 2020.
Much like Kluber’s deal with escalators, Carrasco’s maximum value could exceed $50 million, according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The option years are believed to be worth around $9 million to $10 million each, and escalators in the contract tied to awards could boost the final guaranteed year of the deal and option years well above $10 million each.
Kluber will start the season opener Monday night against Houston and Carrasco the second game of the season Wednesday night.
These are reasonable figures for Carrasco, as he regained his command while in the Indians bullpen most of last season. Initially, I was surprised when I heard Carrasco’s name being thrown about as a potential extension candidate. Even though Carrasco is coming off what looks like a breakthrough season, it was also his age-27 season, and previously, he was mostly regarded as a bust. He had temper issues and trouble locating his pitches. For all of his career, it seemed as if he had maturity issues that kept him from producing at an elite level. Even last season wasn’t a total victory for Carrasco from start to finish. It was only down the stretch that he seemed to put all his pieces together in the right places, and before his final stint in the rotation, he looked like just a pretty good reliever. There was something that clicked upon Carrasco’s final return to starting, and it seems to me it bodes well for his future in the role.
By this extension, the Indians are saying that what they saw from Carrasco at the end of last season in the rotation is what they expect him to look like moving forward- maturity and injury issues behind him. Obviously this type of money is not handed out to relievers- especially coming from a low-revenue team. He had better command of his fastball and curveball down the stretch and the numbers proved it. In the second half, out of 134 starters, Carrasco ranked No. 2 in O-Swing%. He was out of the lead by three-tenths of one point. And he also ranked No. 2 in O-Contact%. The only guy better: Kluber himself. And still Carrasco was also in the top 20 in zone rate, so he wasn’t surviving by getting guys to chase. Because he got so good within the zone, batters became increasingly helpless when he did something else.
If the Indians can get the type of production from Carrasco as he gave them down the stretch last season, the new contract is more than worth it.
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