The Cleveland Indians caused a bit of a ruckus early on this offseason when it was reported that they were planning on shedding some payroll and shopping some of their starting pitchers on the trade market. Almost immediately, fans of nearly every team had trade proposal ideas and dreams of Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, and Trevor Bauer dancing in their heads.
For the most part, it remains true that the Indians are likely to part with at least one starter this offseason although the bulk of speculation more recently has been around Bauer given how expensive he is expected to be in arbitration and the fact that Kluber’s deal is pretty team friendly with its multiple options.
As for Carlos Carrasco, who has established himself as a fine starter as well after some early career health issues, it looks like he will be in Cleveland for the forseeable future.
Carlos Carrasco has signed a 3-yr extension with the #Indians and will be paid $37.25M from 2020-22. @Ken_Rosenthal had extension first
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) December 6, 2018
While it is worth mentioning that an extension doesn’t necessarily mean that Carrasco can’t or won’t get moved at some point over the next year (as far as we know at this point, he doesn’t have a no trade clause), it does make that possibility pretty low. First of all, this deal with the number of dollars and years for a pitcher of Carrasco’s caliber is a great one for a Cleveland team that has payroll constraints and expects to compete in the postseason for at least the next couple of years. Second, it was reported that the Indians were going to try and extend Carrasco and would only move him if they were unsuccessful in doing so.
Carrasco posted a 3.38 ERA and 2.94 FIP in 192 innings in 2018 while posting his second straight 5+ fWAR season while striking out almost 11 batters per nine inning against just two walks per nine.