Cleveland Indians: Two players signed, five heading for arbitration

The Cleveland Indians signed two players Friday night and tendered contracts to five others who will now head for the arbitration process.

The Cleveland Indians had until 8 p.m. on Friday night to make decisions on seven players.

The team did just that by signing Abraham Almonte and Dan Otero to one-year deals, while contracts were tendered to Lonnie Chisenhall, Zach McAllister, Danny Salazar, Trevor Bauer and Cody Allen.

The five who were tendered contracts are now set to go to arbitration, but the Indians have a long history of avoiding that process and getting deals done before then.

The only real suprise of this process may be that Almonte was retained, but it makes sense given Jay Bruce‘s likely departure and the fact Michael Brantley could eventually make a move to first base.

Almonte’s contract is also cheap enough to where keeping him for depth isn’t a major hit on the payroll.

Otero coming back was expected, and his presence is needed with the potential departures of both Bryan Shaw and Joe Smith. Shaw seems to be on the way out, but hopefully Smith can be retained on a one or two-year deal to keep some consistency among the group heading into 2018.

As stated above, the five players tendered contracts are set to head for arbitration, but it would be a surprise if more than one actually goes through the process.

The Indians are good at getting deals done, and fans could even expect a few multi-year deals to get done, or at least I hope.

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Getting these decisions done allows the focus to shift on free agency, but we will be sure to keep an eye on the five players heading for arbitration. Perhaps even a Francisco Lindor extension will get done in the next few months, but that may be chalked up in the category of a Christmas miracle.