Word came down today that Carlos Zambrano (stats) signed a 5 year, 90 million dollar extension. Here's the link to the story, though it doesn't really give any of the contract details.

This got me to thinking about whether CC (stats) would accept a deal in the same neighborhood. Their stats are pretty similar, although Zambrano is 11 months younger and is hitting free agency a year earlier.

I was personally shocked to hear about this, I thought that once they got this far into the season there would be no way he would sign. He could have gotten a lot more money had he waited until the end of the season. I'm not ripping him for this, just saying I was suprised.

So the real question is, should the Indians offer CC something like 100m over 5? Would he take it? It seems like this would be the only type of extension that CC would consider signing. In my heart I would love for the Indians to offer this and keep around a very likeable guy, not to mention the ace of our staff. The thing I do not know is if it is smart for any smaller market team to put that much money into one player.

Also, does anyone have a link or information on the Tribe payroll for future years? It seems that with the Westbrook and Hafner extensions that Tribe payroll will already be rising to new heights.