The Indians signed Joe Smith and Jensen Lewis to one-year deals worth $870,000 and $650,000, respectively. All other players on the 40-man roster were tendered contracts.
View full sizeCleveland Indians' relief pitcher Joe Smith was happy to sign a new deal with the Indians on Thursday.Updated: 11:55 p.m.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians went 2-for-2 Thursday in avoiding salary arbitration with relievers Joe Smith and Jensen Lewis.
They signed Smith and Lewis to one year deals. Smith received $870,000 plus bonuses. Lewis will get $650,000.
Teams had until midnight to offer 2011 contracts to the unsigned players on their 40-man rosters. If a player wasn't offered a contract, he became a free agent.
The Indians tendered contracts to all other players, including Shin-Soo Choo, Rafael Perez, Chris Perez and Asdrubal Cabrera. Like Lewis and Smith, they were eligible for arbitration, but they retained their arbitration rights because they have not signed deals.
Players were tendered contracts worth at least 80 percent of what they earned last season or 70 percent of what they earned over the last two seasons. A non-tendered player can be signed at a bigger discount.Smith made $427,500 and Lewis $422,400 last season. The Indians were trying to sign them to avoid the raises they would receive in arbitration.
Lewis and Smith, both right-handers, bounced between Cleveland and Class AAA Columbus last season. Lewis was up and down five times. He went 4-2 with a 2.97 ERA (12 earned runs in 36 1/3 innings) in 37 appearances with Cleveland. The opposition hit .215 against him. He was 2-1 with a 2.67 ERA with two saves in 24 appearances at Columbus.
Lefties hit .264 (14-for-53) and righties .182 (14-for-77) against Lewis.
Smith, a sidearmer, was 2-2 with a 3.83 ERA (17 earned runs in 40 innings) in 53 games with the Indians. The opposition hit .208 against him and he had 17 holds. Smith was 2-1 with a 1.96 ERA and two saves in 20 games with Columbus.
Lefties hit .342 (13-for-38) and righties .160 (17-for-106) against Smith.
"I'm happy," said Smith. "Guaranteed money is never a bad thing. Cleveland is a good spot. We have a good group of guys who take care of each other. And it's close to home."
Smith is from Cincinnati.
Hot corner: Jayson Nix spent three days working with infield coach Steve Smith in California before heading to Puerto Rico to play third base for San Juan.
"It went well," said Smith, in a text. "He needs game experience. Puerto Rico will be good for him."
Nix, a converted second baseman, played his first game Wednesday. He went 0-for-5 and made an error on a missed catch.
Voices of the game: Mike Hegan, entering his 23rd season as an Indians announcer, will reduce his travel in 2011. Hegan will do all home games with partner Tom Hamilton in the WTAM/1100 radio booth and road games that do not require long travel.
Jim Rosenhaus, who debuted in the WTAM booth last season, will partner with Hamilton for the rest of the schedule.
Hegan, who played 12 years in the big leagues, missed some games last season because of breathing problems.