Cleveland Indians: The state of the payroll now and in the future

2019 Payroll Situation

Free Agents (6): Michael Brantley, Andrew Miller, Josh Tomlin, Cody Allen, Lonnie Chisenhall, Zach McAllister

Total $ coming off books: $42,112,500

Team Options (2): Carlos Carrasco, Brandon Guyer

Guaranteed contracts (8): Edwin Encarnacion, Jason Kipnis, Corey Kluber, Yonder Alonso, Yan Gomes, Jose Ramirez, Roberto Perez, Dan Otero

Total dollar value: $72,566,667

Arbitration contracts (5): Trevor Bauer, Danny Salazar, Abraham Almonte, Francisco Lindor, Nick Goody

Total Guaranteed payroll: $83,829,667

Projected payroll space: $25,000,000

Payroll analysis

The big question mark for this payroll is Francisco Lindor. He will enter arbitration for the first time in 2019 and he’s in line for a hefty raise. The potential salary for him is unknown until both file for arbitration next January, or hopefully avoid arbitration altogether. He could end up signing a long term extension and that would provide cost certainty for the Cleveland Indians. But reportedly, the Indians have not engaged in those talks with Lindor yet.

Should Lindor go through arbitration, he will likely earn somewhere in the vicinity of $10 million and that will cut deeply into the available payroll space for other additions.

Encarnacion’s contract climbs up above $21 million in 2019 while Kipnis is just shy of $15 million. Kluber will get a nice bump up to $13.2 million and, while its a $2.5 million increase from 2018, it’s still nowhere near the value of a two time Cy Young winner.

The big problem is paying the big time relievers. If both Miller and Allen leave in free agency, the bullpen will be left barren of dependable late inning arms. The odds of the Cleveland Indians re-signing both are slim. But they will need to keep one of them to keep any World Series hopes alive.

The Indians could use some outfield upgrades and there will be room for improvement over Brantley and Chisenhall next winter. Whether the Tribe decides to move on from them or not will remain to be seen, but suitable replacements will need to be found.

As for the club options, Carrasco’s is a no brainer to pick up while Brandon Guyer, if he’s unable to prove himself as a future starting outfield option this year, may not see his get picked up.

Based on the maximum payroll of $135 million, I would guess that they would have maybe $25 million in space to make other additions to the roster. That accounts for expected arbitration salary increases and club option pickups but that does not take into account signing any of their own free agents.