The Cleveland Indians and Roberto Hernandez Heredia, also known as Fausto Carmona (which is now ... a nickname, maybe?), are in a weird situation. Well, for Carmona, it's a weird situation, seeing as he's the one who just had to deal with false identity charges from the Dominican Republic. For the Indians, it mostly just means they've got contract leverage on a player who isn't necessarily integral to the team's success in 2012.
Leverage, in this case, is definitely justified. After all, the team was set to pay $7 million to a player who misrepresented his entire identity, including name and age. If you can't have trust, then there's not really a healthy business relationship to look forward to. That being said, he's a talented player and the Indians don't want to just cut him outright.
And they won't, as Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports on Twitter, saying that the Indians have restructured Carmona's contract, with a particular emphasis on that $7 million salary for 2012. There are $9 million and $14 million options for 2013 and 2014, and according to Heyman, one of those options was dropped.
There's no word on how much less he'll be making, but Carmona is walking on thin ice - with the team and with the Dominican Republic government. His charges have been dropped, but he has to complete a work program and likely fulfill some other obligations in that regard. Still, it's good to see that the team got something worked out through all of this, as opposed to cutting him outright.
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