Cleveland Indians: 5 Pitchers With Something to Prove in 2017

Cleveland Indians’ pitchers left a lot to be desired in 2016 after a freak accident, untimely injuries, and unmet potential. 2017 might be different.

Trevor Bauer. Josh Tomlin. Carlos Carrasco. Danny Salazar. Zach McAllister. These are the five pitchers with the most to prove in 2017 after ending 2016 on a relatively sour note.

Bauer cut his finger. Tomlin ran out of gas. Injuries got to Carrasco and Salazar. And McAllister was normal Zach, shrinking away when given the big opportunity. Each of these pitchers also have financial incentives that could be motivating factors in 2017 as well.

Bauer and Salazar have added incentive, considering they are both still relatively young and have their primes ahead of them. They should be looking for big four or five-year contracts exceeding $50 million or more depending on performance.

Bauer is on a very reasonable $3.55 million contract for 2017 and is eligible for arbitration next year. Tomlin signed a team-friendly $5.5 million deal with a club option for 2018, with a lot of incentives.

Carrasco is under contract through 2020, making pennies for the kind of performances he has given the last few years, with club options in 2019 and 2020. Salazar is eligible for arbitration in 2018 as well, so he has major incentive to do well in this contract year.

Finally, McAllister is also eligible for arbitration in 2018. Outside of Carrasco, who is easily one of the biggest trade chips that the Indians have due to his team-friendly contract, each of these four pitchers have strong financial incentive to have big 2017s as well.