On Tuesday, the Indians offered Matt Clement a 3-year contract worth anywhere from $18-24M, depending where you looked. Paul Hoynes said the offer was between $21-24M, and Anthony Castrovince said $18-20M. For now, let’s assume the lower end of the spectrum, which is 3 years, $18M. That’s probably not going to get it done. If I’m reading the market right, it’ll probably take $7-8M a year to land Clement, especially since you have a lot of the big players still looking for pitching. Regardless of what the actual numbers were, the Indians made a serious offer. As I said yesterday, not much is probably going to get done until the “market-setters” start to sign deals. But if the reports are accurate, it’s an encouraging sign.
Hoynes also said that Lieber has received an offer, but like Clement, he’s waiting for other offers. Another interesting nugget is that the Indians offered Benitez a 3 year, $18M contract, so it wasn’t like they lowballed him. Still, I’m thankful the Giants stepped in and gave Armando 21 million reasons to go to San Francisco. I’m of the opinion that 70-inning pitchers aren’t worth as much as a 180-inning workhorse, given equivalent talent levels. Yes, you need a capable closer, but he’s no good unless you have starting pitching that can get you to a save situation in the first place.
Blogging will be light this weekend, as finals are looming. If something major happens, I’ll make an quick appearance, but if not, I’ll see you on Monday.