Fausto The Indian

The Cleveland Indians have signed their #2 starter, Fausto Carmona, to a 4-year deal that covers his next two years and then his first two arbitration years. That part of the deal is for $14 million, which is about the going rate for those years. The club also has three option years (that can buy out the first two free-agent years), which would bring the total value to $47.25 million over 7 years. That's a good deal for the Indians, since they're only on the hook for a small amount, but if Carmona pitches well then they can keep him for a while at a discount. Locking up young players to long-term deals is something Cleveland has been doing for a while with great success. Hopefully the O's will start doing this kind of thing also. Sometimes it comes back to bite the team, but the success rate (I would guess - I actually hope to look into this at some point) is higher than for contracts given out to free agents. It's good business and something that smart baseball team do now.