This is not unexpected.  However, I think Shapiro would be willing to accept an AL pennant, with a chance at the WS title for the 1st time in 60 years, in 2008 in exchange for letting CC walk at the end of the season.  If CC is moved while the Indians are still in contention, the lost attendance and interest may be far more costly than the benefit of what is received in trade.  If the Indians fall out of contention, then it would make sense to trade him to a contender.

CC will get a chance early to show if he is still improving.  His 2nd start of the season will be in Oakland (essentially his home-town team), where he has been nototiously unsuccessful during his career.

This is a really tough call for the FO. I dont envy their position.

While they may see some appealing offers early on, there is always going to be the temptation that one of the big spenders will be a couple games out around the all-star break and willing to shell out prospects and some show-ready talent for an impact pitcher like CC.

CC just moved you into check Shapiro, tough move.

Well it doesn't really bother me that he's going after the money and contract length.  However, I yelled "BOOOOOO" at my computer when I read this.

Well what can I say?  I wasn't holding out much hope for a contract extension, mostly cuz a "reasonable" extension would probably be a bad deal for CC and a bad deal for the Tribe.

Trade him. May-ish to June-ish would be great. Maybe Miller will be ready by then, or maybe Cliff will have pulled his head out of his compound noun. I will admit though, that

Fausto
Westbrook
Laffey
Cliff Lee
Byrd
Miller?

does not scare anybody.

Very well stated Jay.  

It's time to look to a future that does not include C.C. in a Tribe uniform as he has made it very clear as to his long term intentions.

Business is business.  Trade him to the highest bidder, preferably a NL team, but I wouldn't preclude a trade to ANY team if the Indians get a great offer.

How about:

CC to the Dodgers
Kershaw and Kemp to the Tribe?

I'd trade him.

I'll probably be posting on this diary sporadically throughout the day since my head is spinning right now from the news.

My first reaction though is frustration at not even knowing who to be most upset with since we have no clue what the last offer was. Is Shap being cheap? Is C.C. demanding too much? Of course based on how the negotiations have gone so far we'll have no idea what the answers are until he either signs or is traded. So for now we just sit in limbo being mad at the world in general.

Sigh. Sad.

I think we need to hold onto him this year and go for it.

cleveland rocks.

With CC's stated intention of not signing a contract extension, he will not have nearly as much trade value. The Twins were able to get what they did for Santana as the Mets were basically trading for 1 year of Santana plus exclusive bargaining rights.

The tribe cannot get Philip Hughes and another prospect for CC. They can't even get just Hughes.

CC has the most value for a team competing for the playoffs. He only gets traded if the tribe falls out of contention in 08. And I don't want to think about that.  

Jay, you have been correct on the CC situation for over 2 years now. I'm impressed.

Oh, and happy valentine's day.

Sigh.

Oh I cannot WAIT for March 13th to be within feet of this man. He'll definitely be getting a piece of my mind.

Feel free to reply with comments you too would like thrown CC's way. PG-rated of course.

One other thing. If CC remains healthy and pitches the way he is capable of pitching (e.g. the last 2 years), he will obtain the largest contract ever for a pitcher. I really think this is big motivation for CC.

My open letter to CC:
CC, if you want the cash that you believe that you are worth, you might try to perform in the playoffs this year.

In Shaprio I trust.  Did we ever decide what type of deity he is?

Well I think we all saw this one coming. It's still somewhat depressing to hear.

After dealing with the Belle, Manny, and Thome negotiations, I'd kinda resigned myself to this outcome, though it's still depressing to hear it. On the plus side, it does nothing to diminish our chances this year & as they say, flags fly forever.

And hey, pitchers and catchers report today, so let's bring on the actual baseball & stop thinking about all this depressing stuff. If CC goes 20-6 on the way to winning a World Series, I'll congratulate the guy & hope he sucks for the next team that signs him.

I've started typing this post 5 times, and every time what comes out is "I say we trade him."  Maybe it was the fan in me, but I held out hope, undiminished hope, that we'd be able to sign him.  This is obviously not going to happen now.  I don't know why I continue to expect that baseball players are any different than you or I in wanting that last buck for our "work".  Maybe it's because I see mid-market team after mid-market team able to sign players with the supposed hometown discount.  I mean, we got a bit of one with Pronk (who hopefully slimmed down/found the downstroke in his swing/reclaimed his mojo) so I really can't complain, but still.  I just want to see players I've rooted for have loyalty like I have loyalty.  

Really, I'm just sad.

Trade him and see if he'll waive that not going sign a contract before the end of the season nonsense.  The Tribe is just not offering "Fair market value."

F*$K!

Well, to be honest, I was still holding out some hope, so I guess this is a little upsetting.

That said, this also gives Indians fans an idea of exactly what's going on.  Here's hoping that the average fan understands this one a little better then they did the other free agent signings...

Keep C.C. this year and see if he can man up in the playoffs.  If you tank, then worry about trading him to one of those desperate contender types.

I don't agree with Nick and Mario that CC MUST be traded now.  But my acceptance of trading him before or mid-season did just go up a few notches.  But it's still behind the 'strike when the irons hot' and ride CC to the finish this season attitude.

Is it bad that this taught me C.C. HAS an official website?

So, CC thinks we can't give him enough money for what he's worth, and the front office thinks we can't afford him at the going rate. Fine.

The only thing that bugs me is the assumption behind both stances - ie, "the going rate". A little over a year ago, CC remarked with a laugh "you give me Oswalt money and I'm here to stay", referring to the 5 yr/73 ml contract Oswalt had recently inked.

The laugh had two sides to it: one, that that was a stinkload of money and he'd be glad to sign up for that, it'd be a no brainer. Two, the recognition (backed by the silent assent of everyone from  fans to management to press), that it would be a warm day  in hell for the Indian's to make an offer like that, since it was clearly out of their comfort zone.

So, a mere year and change later and that laugh rings very hollow: "Oswalt money" is suddenly very affordable for the Tribe, and "the going rate" has moved to where CC would laugh at that same offer not because it was too much but because it was obviously too little.

Who wants to bet that within a couple years, we will look back similarly on this situation? The point being that despite success in '07, the Tribe's money situation has not changed so radically so that what was inconceivable a year ago is eminently affordable now. But our comfort zone has remained the same - we can't afford "the going rate".

I don't want to pay him a $100m either, but I'm just wondering if we'll end up thinking that was not such a big deal for a stud pitcher in his prime.