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by J.R.
Cleveland Indians sign outfielder Brandon Guyer to two-year contract extension
By Zack Meisel, cleveland.com
on January 18, 2017 at 10:30 AM, updated January 18, 2017 at 11:08 AM
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The last of the Indians' eight arbitration-eligible players has signed, and this one will be sticking around for a while.
The Indians have agreed to a two-year deal with outfielder Brandon Guyer worth at least $5 million. The pact includes a club option for the 2019 season.
Guyer will earn $2 million in 2017 and $2.75 million in 2018, a source told cleveland.com. The Indians' 2019 option is worth $3 million, or they can pay Guyer a $250,000 buyout.
Cleveland's acquisition of Guyer last summer might have been deemed an under-the-radar move, but don't tell that to all of the left-handed pitchers he bested. In 2016, Guyer batted .336 with a 1.021 OPS against southpaws. His .464 on-base percentage against lefties led the American League.
That made him the perfect complement to Lonnie Chisenhall in the Indians' right-field platoon. Guyer hit just .216 with a .628 OPS against right-handed pitching last year.
The Indians settled with their other seven arbitration-eligible players late last week. On Friday, teams and players still in limbo exchanged salary figures. Instead of heading to an arbitration hearing in Phoenix in February, the two sides agreed to a contract extension. The Indians followed a similar path with Josh Tomlin last year.
Guyer would have been eligible for arbitration for the final time next winter, before hitting the free-agent market after the 2018 campaign.
Guyer, who will turn 31 next weekend, appeared in 38 games for the Tribe last season. He posted a .333/.438/.469 slash line. He also batted .333 with a .500 on-base percentage in 24 postseason plate appearances. He reached base in all three of his opportunities in Game 7 of the World Series. His RBI double off of Aroldis Chapman in the bottom of the eighth set the table for Rajai Davis' game-tying, two-run homer. Guyer walked with two outs in the 10th and scored on Davis' single before the Indians fell one run short.
Guyer loves facing lefties
The man does have a knack for reaching base, even in the most painful ways imaginable. Guyer has led the league in hit-by-pitches each of the last two years. He was plunked on 31 occasions in 2016.
The Cubs selected Guyer in the fifth round of the 2007 amateur draft out of the University of Virginia.
If Michael Brantley returns to full health this season, the Indians will likely have Chisenhall and Guyer share time in right, Tyler Naquin and Abraham Almonte occupy center and Brantley man left.