2-5-08 at 9:50am: Indians GM Mark Shapiro has no plans to trade Sabathia. Not a big surprise, since they’re a contending team.
2-4-08: Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer has some details about the Indians’ December contract extension offer to ace C.C. Sabathia. The four-year extension would run from 2009 through 2012 and is believed to be between $68-72MM. There would also probably be some kind of bonus added to Sabathia’s $11.25MM ’08 salary to bring him more in line with his peers.
If Sabathia compares himself to Jake Peavy and Carlos Zambrano, then the Indians’ offer has a chance. But the new Johan bar is set at about $23MM per year. Hoynes says the Tribe is probably going to have to revise its offer because of the Mets’ new ace. Peter Gammons says Santana is "the reason the Indians have no chance of re-signing Sabathia unless someone finds oil in Lake Erie."
You can bet Sabathia and his free agent adventure will receive a ton of coverage from this site come December.
