The Indians are expected to decline their $9MM 2012 option on center fielder Grady Sizemore and exercise their $7MM 2012 option on right-hander Fausto Carmona, according to Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. Sizemore will be owed a $500K buyout.
Sizemore, 29, was a cornerstone player for the Tribe from 2005-08 (.281/.372/.496) but has seen his stock plummet after three consecutive injury-riddled campaigns. Bastian notes that the Indians will likely be interested in bringing back Sizemore on a lesser deal, and as Tim Dierkes wrote earlier today, the three-time All-Star should garner interest – perhaps in the form of an incentive-laden deal – from teams in need of help in center field.
Carmona, 28 in December, will apparently return for a seventh season in Cleveland. The groundballer (58.6% career rate) has seen pretty wild fluctuations in his yearly ERAs, although his FIPs usually sits in the mid-4.00s. He averaged 200 innings over the past two seasons, however, so the Indians are hoping that he can shoulder a similar workload again and pitch competently at what is a reasonable salary. The Indians also hold options on the right-hander for 2013 ($9MM) and 2014 ($12MM).
Last night we learned that all option decisions – regardless if it's team, player, or mutual – must be made by 11:59pm ET on Monday.
i hope sabean gives him a shot..id rather take a chance on sizemore than sign beltran
Because of money? On pure projection for 2012, I’d have to give Beltran the edge.
mostly money..and the years to go with that money
Not sure Beltran gets more than two years though.
As much as you would like to see Sizemore on the giants. He is going to the dodgers. This is the kind of guy Ned coletti always goes after.
I could see Theo or Cherington offering $5M for 1 year.
Hahahaha really? I am not so sure. Cherington has to calm down that club house!
I am not so sure Sizemore would do that! Plus, Drew was injured on and off all year long. Sizemore doesn’t help in the staying healthy department either.
What does Sizemore have to do with the clubhouse? He’s a good guy. He could play RF in replace of Drew with Reddick as the 4th OF’er.
He might even DH if they don’t bring back Ortiz.
I’m really hoping they at least look at the possibility. I think he would be a good fit for Boston’s RF and would be a high upside acquisition that Theo always seemed to like, we’ll see if Cherington has the same idea I guess.
I’d take a flier on Sizemore if I were a bad squad. If the Cubs moved Byrd, I’d like to see Jackson and him out there. Worth a shot.
Sizemore to the Cubs makes good sense.
How much will he ask for? I wouldn’t mind seeing a one-year deal between him and the Mets.
I’d like this as well, as long as they sign an Endy Chavez or David Dejesus to back him up.
Yeah, the medical staff might have more opportunities to work on their skills.
Wow they got that backwards/wrong!
why?
Dombrowski, get this done.
AL Comeback Player of the Year, I know it.
Sizemore to the Cubs would be a good fit. I would play him in right though and keep Byrd in center. If they cant find a bad contract swap for Soriano I would probably trade Colvin for bullpen help. Maybe trade for a Kelly Johnson and move Castro to third and Barney to short. And of course go after Pujols (which they WONT get) or Fielder (much better chance) or worse case senario re sign Pena.
KJ us a free agent no need to trade for him just sign him
sizemore would be a good fit for a ton of clubs, which is why i think declining his option was a mistake. they’ll save a few million, but they’re getting literally nothing from or for him now
if i’m an indians fan, i’m gonna be mad as hell if they don’t invest that $9M in some top talent for 2012
I agree completely. I lived in Cleveland for a decade and the fans love this dude. The only thing worse than letting him walk because of money, is letting him walk and getting nothing in return. They could’ve easily exercised his option, ate $3 or $4 mil and traded him for another mlb player, perhaps with some minor issues, or a decent prospect.
He would have to actually perform though in order for anyone to even take on the $6 – $5M in salary under your idea, wouldn’t he? Over the past two years he has posted an aggregate WAR of -.4, which means even a deal at the MLB minimum would have theoretically been too much for anyone to pay. I think Grady is going to have to settle for a deal of around $1 or less, and for one year in order to rebuild some value.
Its a shame, this guy was a stud.
lots of teams are going to want this guy on a one year deal, which means he’ll be getting at least a few million if he wants and probably all sorts of incentive bonuses. $9M is worth it if he produces as much as 2 WAR. he could produce that by the deadline if he hit to his potential – and then been traded for a prospect. beltran brought back a blue chip last year. i just don’t see how you pass on that opportunity
Haven’t the Indians been hoping he would return to his “potential” for the past two seasons? Of course if he got to 2 WAR the $9M would be worth it, but in his last relatively healthy season (2009), he was at 2.9 for the whole year.
It’s a risky bet to give Sizemore more than a 1/$1M deal in my opinion. He was and still might be a good hitter when healthy, but speed and defense were also a big part of his game when he was at his best. He stole about 130 bases from 05-09, since then? Four.
He is not the same player today that you are seeing in your memory, it’s unfortunate, but he is not that same guy.
in his last healthy season, he hit for a ~.350 wOBA as a centerfielder playing at least average defense (UZR didn’t rate well, but DRS, +/-, and TZL all did). that was good for 2 WAR in 106 games despite the flukey UZR rating. had it been normal, it would have been closer to 3
his last two ‘seasons’ have amounted to just 100 injury-riddled games, and those haven’t been pretty. nobody really expect him to recapture that 7-8 WAR peak magic, but you can’t give up on a guy with his ability. despite injuries and all his time off, he looked like himself a couple times last season (in april and again in july)
reasonable people can disagree on something like this and i respect your skepticism, but that $9M better go toward something good because few players have grady’s upside and they just spent $7M on fausto carmona’s “potential”, which is a helluva lot less than sizemore’s
The reason they’re spending 7 million on Carmona is to SAVE money. His contract would go into arbitration otherwise. They must feel that he would get more money from an arbitrator, so they’re settling with 7. Also, he hasn’t been bad for two season, he’s been bad for 3 seasons. His last “good” year was 2007, and even then he struck out 20% of the time. He was a great player, but he’s not the same defensively (-UZR the last three years) or on the basepaths (17 SB in last three years). It’s not worth it based on how tight their payroll is.
“The reason they’re spending 7 million on Carmona is to SAVE money. His contract would go into arbitration otherwise.”
only if they tendered him one
you’re straight up wrong about sizemore. like crazy wrong. he put up 2 WAR in 100 games in 2009 (his last healthy stint) grading above average defensively by every metric except UZR
2008 was a 7.4 WAR ellsbury-like campaign. just so many levels of crazy to suggest he hasn’t been good since 2007, or to hold his k-rate against him in that phenomenal 6 WAR season
Money is easier to replace than talent.
Just because clubs will want to offer him contracts doesn’t mean they’d want to trade for him. Or, at least, on the terms that the Indians would want. It’s very likely that their options were to release him or gamble on a $9MM contract.
I totally understand that he has to PERFORM in order to warrant his pay. However, the unless they know he’s going to miss all or most of 2012 then it makes sense to sign him for 2012 and see what happens. He’s an asset and to let that asset walk w/o any return seems silly.
It will be MOST interesting to see what they do with that $9 mil saved.
Then again, wouldn’t it seem even more silly to exercise an option like that, and only get 33 or 71 games of sub-par performance? That is exactly what happened over the past two years, isn’t it? The Cleveland Indians simply can not afford to take that risk.
Agreed, it will be interesting to see what they do with the savings.
Big mistake declining a reasonable option on a sub-30 former star. He still has time to regain his all-star form and if he does, the Indians will lament making this decision.
The likelihood of that though? Small…
The Indians have time on their side. The only way they can justify not picking up the option is if they feel he’ll miss significant time in 2012. Otherwise, if he can start of ST then why not bring him back and give him an opportunity to up his value? If he has a good 1st half, teams will be looking to acquire a talent of his stature before the deadline.
thats risky with 9mil on the line..
$9 mil on a one year deal isn’t that big of a deal. They aren’t the Marlins.
Indians drew 1.8 mil in 2011, up 500,000 from 2010 when they were dead last at 1.3 mil. The payroll for 2011 was $49 mil, down $12 mil from 2010 and $32 mil from 2009.
They’ve got money saved from the last few years and they aren’t ADDING signifigant payroll by keeping him as Sizemore’s option would’ve only added $1 mil more salary from 2011’s $49 mil.
For some reason I think of Austin Kearns and half a dozen years waiting for the former star to shine again.
Future Yank?
Where would they play him?
Can he pitch?
– B. Cashman
no
Future Yank?
annnnd no
Sizemore would be great as LF for the Braves! Package Prado/Jair/and Beachy or Minor for a solid SS. Thoughts?
Which solid SS are you suggesting? A solid SS would be someone like Alexei Ramirez, that package would be a vast overpay for a “solid SS”. An average shortstop in this league is a subpar player overall.
In a dream scenario I would LOVE to see Tulo in a Braves uni but I realize that is just a pipe dream. More realistically someone along the lines of JJ Hardy…
Would love to see the Phillies sign Sizemore. I don’t think John Mayberry is much more than a fourth outfielder long term. (he really can’t hit good right handed pitching.)
Our ballpark isn’t the worst place for a hitter to resurrect his career.
I’m surprised at the lack of concern shown here for Sizemore’s health issues. A player who can’t make it onto the field is no bargain, regardless of his age and salary. This sounds like the kind of high risk/high return gamble that the Mets have been in love with for years. I could see them taking a flyer on Sizemore instead of tendering a contract to Pagan. I could also see Grady riding the pine like a number of injury-plagued Mets before him. Bear in mind that Antonetti has a better idea of Grady’s health status than any other GM. If he doesn’t pick up his option, caveat emptor.
I think Grady would be best served signing with an AL team in need of offense that could also give him AB’s as a DH and take some of the stress off of back to back days in the field.
The Red Sox if they don’t bring back Ortiz, Twins (if Morneau can play 1b), A’s and M’s make sense.
If the Yanks end up trading Montero for pitching he could even make sense as a DH/4th OF. I would rather take a $4 mil flier on him than a $30 + mil on Beltran.
Sizemore can DH in NY once they trade Montero for a big time arm.. one year deal, and you start all over next year w a new DH
how is carmona worth that option????
This could be an opportunity for the Padres to overpay and maybe even land a potential impact bat. Blanks/Maybin/Grady OF could be a way for the FO to save some season tix from mass exodus.
Too bad it makes almost zero sense for Grady to come to SD. DH and a hitter’s park would probably be in his best interests right now. And I’m sure every team will have some level of interest in him. Just a matter of $$$$.
Sizemore will b wearing Cubbie blue next year
From all the comments it seems like Sizemore will have alot of interest, and someone will pay him more than he’s worth. He’s a sleeper.
How often has a former star underperformed for three consecutive years because of injury then come back to be a star? It probably has happened, but the odds are stacked against it. If all these teams want to pay Grady good money to sit on the DL, great. Go for it. The Indians made the right decision because Sizemore is simply a shadow of his former self. He can’t run. His power is all but non-existent. He was a detriment to the Indians for the last three years and there is little evidence that next year will be any different.
The Indians have a window of two years to compete (because of Jimenez’s contract.) They couldn’t take a chance on Sizemore’s contract. Better to put that money towards a healthier hitter…..say, Cuddyer or Willingham.
Good move Cleveland.
You’re basing Cleveland’s window of opportunity on Ubaldo? Not looking good in Cleveland.
That is pretty much correct. If Masterson doesn’t repeat last year’s success and if Jimenez doesn’t become MUCH better than his performance last year, the Indians are in trouble. Tomlin is middle of the road. Although he has great ability, we will be fortunate if Carmona becomes anyting more an innings eater #5, and our starters at AAA profile as low-end-of-the-rotation. Our hitting is not good. Choo will be gone in two years and if he performs to his capabilities he is not coming back. Kipnis looks good and is controllable for six years. We will see which Asdrubal Cabrera we get next year. Santana is very good and improving, but other than that, we have a group of average to below average hitters. Brantley, Hannahan, Hafner. Further, we have nothing at AAA that will help. Chisenhall looks like an average to slightly above average 3b. Our bullpen is promising and there is a lot of depth at AAA.
We need to be very aggressive right now or our window of opportunity will close. Unfortunately, in order to get Jimenez we gave up the guys who would have held the franchise up while we wait for a very talented group at singe-A make their way to the majors.