Cleveland Sports Forum

As of today, no one claimed him so he is a free agent.

Meanwhile, we pay him his full salary, minus the MLB minimum when he signs with someone.

In other words yes, we pay him to go away.

TFIR- This is why I questioned it:
"
As Tony Lastoria of Indians Baseball Insider points out, Johnson has the option of declining his assignment to the minor leagues and he could become a free agent, which would let the Indians off the hook for his contract if someone else signs him. If he does not, he should easily clear waivers and be assigned to Triple-A, where the Indians will be paying him more than $15 million over the next two years to help the Columbus Clippers win another championship."

If someone signs him do we get off the hook or does he get 2 salaries? Anybody know?


I am pretty sure that we are on the hook for his salary less whatever anyone else pays him; I can't think of a reason another team would sign him for more than the minimum, can you?

CLEVELAND -- The Indians continued to stockpile left-handed pitching help Tuesday, adding Ross Detwiler to the fold on a Minor League contract that includes an invitation to attend Spring Training with the big league club.
Detwiler joined Cleveland one day after the team also inked lefties Tom Gorzelanny and Joe Thatcher to similar contracts. All three will come to camp with the Tribe as non-roster invitees with a chance to compete for a spot in the Indians' bullpen. Cleveland's top two lefty relievers on the 40-man roster are youngsters Kyle Crockett and Giovanni Soto.

Detwiler, who will turn 30 in March, posted a 7.25 ERA in 41 games (seven starts) between stints with the Rangers and Braves last season. Within that rough overall showing, though, Detwiler held left-handed hitters to a .234 average and .660 OPS. For his career, the veteran of eight Major League seasons has limited lefties to a .233 (.615 OPS) showing.

In 173 career games, including 76 starts, Detwiler has gone 21-37 with a 4.20 ERA in tours with the Nationals, Rangers and Braves. In his career as a reliever, Detwiler has posted a 3.98 ERA in 97 appearances, compared to a 4.27 ERA as a starter.

According to CBSSports.com, Detwiler would earn a base salary of $1 million if he reaches the Majors with the Indians, who have also included $1.5 million in incentives in

When a guy is released the club releasing him is on the hook for his guaranteed salary.

TFIR is absolutely right. When another team signs him all they have to pay him is the veteran league minimum. The Tribe has to pick up the rest of his salary.

I don't know the exact figures, but let's say he is due 9.5 mill this year. And the league minimum is $500,000. The team that picks him up would pay him $500 K and the Indians would pay him 9 mill.

Now, what Tony Lastoria was saying is, he was designated for assignment and nobody picked him up. So he would have the option of being sent down to the minor leagues, or being released from his contract. If that would have happened and he refused to go to the minors then the Indians wouldn't have owed him anything.

But that isn't what happened. When nobody picked him up when he was DFA'd the Indians chose to just release him, not send him to minors. They made that decision after you read Lastoria's remarks. He did not assume the Indians would just release him, but they did.

Well thanks for the input but it seems to me someone would pick him up for the minimum and then we are screwed. How bad can he be in the clubhouse not to be worth 500K?

So, correct me if I am wrong, but getting rid of Swisher,Bourn, and Johnson is costing us about 30+ Million. How can we afford that crap?

loufla wrote:TFIR- This is why I questioned it:
"
As Tony Lastoria of Indians Baseball Insider points out, Johnson has the option of declining his assignment to the minor leagues and he could become a free agent, which would let the Indians off the hook for his contract if someone else signs him. If he does not, he should easily clear waivers and be assigned to Triple-A, where the Indians will be paying him more than $15 million over the next two years to help the Columbus Clippers win another championship."

Tony was wrong about this situation.

As to the 30 million. I think they were on the hook for about 4 more million then that before they traded Swisher and Bourn. So the trade actually saved them 4 million.

loufla wrote:Well thanks for the input but it seems to me someone would pick him up for the minimum and then we are screwed. How bad can he be in the clubhouse not to be worth 500K?

Something is very wrong about Johnson.

Braves took on Swisher and Bourn to get rid of him.

Indians ate 15 million rather then keep him around.

Good point rusty. And on top of that, Johnson actually played pretty well for Cleveland!

He hit .289 in 90 ABs and is right handed. Take a peek if you like.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... ch05.shtml

Weird.

Lastoria was not wrong, other than assuming the Indians would send him to minors after he cleared the DFA. He was taken by surprise that they released him afterwards, as we all were I'm sure.

And the Indians saved 10 million total in the Bourn & Swisher trade, not 4.

I just asked Todd Paquette why they wanted rid of him and he said his defense really limits his value and they preferred to have the open 40 man spot for incoming relievers.

Todd has a really good source with team, but not sure if that is from the horses mouth or just his opinion. But makes sense either way.

Hillbilly wrote:Lastoria was not wrong, other than assuming the Indians would send him to minors after he cleared the DFA. He was taken by surprise that they released him afterwards, as we all were I'm sure.

And the Indians saved 10 million total in the Bourn & Swisher trade, not 4.

Wow ! Lastoria was wrong.

I sure hope we did not need an inside source to tell us why Johnson was released.

As to the 10 million I will take the time to figure it out but evreything I have read said 4 million. Highly doubt 10 but why don't you show how you got 10.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports says the Indians are sending over $10 million to the Braves in what is a swapping of bad contracts.

Did you forget the 10 million the Tribe threw in ?

But the Braves had reached a point where they were willing to jump at any opportunity to rid themselves of the contract Johnson signed during the early portion of the 2014 season, when Frank Wren was still the club's general manager. The opportunity finally arose this week, when the Indians agreed to provide $10 million to help offset the costs of Swisher and Bourn.

Johnson is owed approximately $19 million through the end of the 2017 season. Swisher and Bourn are owed a combined $29 million next year. Thus with the cash exchanged, this deal is essentially a wash for the Braves from a financial perspective. More importantly, it provides them the financial flexibility they were seeking entering the 2017 season, when Swisher and Bourn will likely be off their books.