15 mil?

They won't shell out for Sabathia, but will give out 15 mil for Carmona?

Carmona has pitched 2 seasons, 1 very good and 1 horribly bad. How can anyone say with certainty, that he will be a good long term pitcher? Of course he could turn out to be well worth it, but pitchers are riskier bets, especially the longer the contract runs.

The Indians did do right by making the last 3 years CLUB options, but this deal could come back to bite them in 2 ways.

1. They have a budget and with this signing most likely won't be able to bring back Sabathia. (Arguably the better pitcher, who has a recent Cy Young on his resume)

2. Carmona is unproven in terms of long term consistancy, and could become less effective as more hitters gain exposure to him. (He did put up Santana / Peavy type wins and ERA #'s last season, but he is no Santana or Peavy.)

I have to disagree with your assessment of the Carmona signing magus, what the Indians did was sign a great up and coming pitcher to a safe deal...no starting pitcher has been better than Carmona since the All-Star break last year, this deal really makes me happy in that we now have him locked up for at least the next 4 years, possibly seven...

Carmon did have a bad year two years ago and I don't think anyone could have predicted he would have the type of season he did last year, but he did...of course any day he could turn around and suck again, but I don't see that happening...if youve been watching the Indians so far this year, his stuff has been lights out just like last year, Tori Hunter said last year that his sinker scared the shit out of him and was the best he had ever seen, Carmona is the real deal...

To finish, this deal gives the Indians a solid replacement for CC (hopefully he wont be a replacement but the 2 of the best 1-2 punch in the bigs), I think Shapiro and co. realized what talent they have in Carmona and wisely elected to lock him up for the next few years instead of seeing him succeed like Sabathia and then leave town, and 15 mil for 4 years? are you kidding me, such a small contract for that kind of talent, pitchers with Carmonas level of stats and success make well over that in one year, this is a great deal and a great day for Indians baseball.

By the way, when comparing CC and Carmona's stats you must look back to CC's beginnings....CC has been good for many years now, but he just had his best career year and got the cy young, he is on top as one of the games best, but he just recently got there, 4 out of 7 of Sabathia's years with us his era has been over 4, Carmona's first full year as a starter it was 3.06, second best in the league...this deal is great and will turn out to be a wise decision, i really hope we can keep sabathia in town as well

Go Tribe!

yeah its $15 million for 4 years, how is this bad? Its a fricken steal if you ask me, i cant believe Carmona signed it. C.C. Sabathia was offered $17 million PER YEAR  before this season and he rejected it.

If you ask me, Carmona's pitches look a hell of a lot better than Sabathia's to begin with. Great deal for the Indians.

I don't see how there is any debate on this. Its a great deal. Taking all of the factors into account, the fact that the tribe has taken the initiative to sign great young ball players to long term deals ( just like in the 90's) is a recipe for championships and long runs near the top of the standings. Great Move Shapiro.

that is 15 mil for 4 yrs "Carmona gets a $750,000 signing bonus and salaries of $500,000 this year, $2.75 million in 2009, $4.9 million in 2010 and $6.1 million in 2011"

My uderstanding is the Indians offered CC 17 mil per year ( and he agreed to the money) but team offered only 4 yrs he wants more years.

Yeah, like everyone said, it's not 15 mill.

The most he'd get is the last year, which is 14 mill. But that would only be exercised if he's still pitching like he is, and he probably will be.

Carmona is a starter, and a star at that. The 'horribly bad' year, well, wasn't horribly bad, and it was when they tried to use him as a reliever/closer, which he obviously isn't.

And that definately was a horribly bad year: 1W 10L, 1.59 WHIP, 5.42 ERA.

How is that not bad?

1-10 as a record is horribly bad.

the 5.42 ERA is bad, but not horribly bad. Add to the fact they put him in horrible spots as a reliever, where one or two bad outings can destroy an ERA.

So bad, yes, but 5.42 wasn't horribly bad since alooot of pitchers have worse.