Indians Exercise Fausto Carmona’s 2012 Option

The Cleveland Indians have exercised their 2012 option for Fausto Carmona, according to the Plain Dealer‘s Paul Hoynes.

Carmona, 27, also has team options for 2013 and 2014 worth $9 million and $12 million, respectively. He would have been eligible for salary arbitration had the Indians decided to decline his option but still keep him on the team.

Carmona has had a tumultuous career, which is why it wasn’t obvious what the Indians would end up deciding.

When he signed his current contract in February 2008, he was coming off a year in which he went 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA (3.72 SIERA) and received Cy Young consideration as he helped lead Cleveland to the AL Central title. Had he kept up that pace, his option for this year would have been a no-brainer.

But Carmona struggled after signing the extension. In 246 innings in 2008-9, he went 13-19 with an unsightly 5.89 ERA and a WHIP of 1.70 while walking more batters than he struck out.

Carmona got his control problems under control in 2010 and posted a 3.77 ERA in 210.1 innings, but after being named the Tribe’s Opening Day starter in 2011 he struggled mightily, going 7-15 with a 5.25 ERA in 32 starts. Interestingly, his SIERA was actually lower this year than it was in 2010 (4.18 to 4.32), suggesting that his inconsistency over the last two seasons has been largely due to luck.

Meanwhile, the Indians Grady Sizemore’s 2012 Option” href=”https://believelandball.com/2011/10/31/indians-decline-grady-sizemores-2012-option/” target=”_blank”>declined their $9 million 2012 option for Grady Sizemore. Both moves had been expected, but GM Chris Antonetti had said he would wait until today to make his decision.

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