The Cleveland Indians today announced the following roster moves relative to the 2016 Major League roster:
Exercised the 2019 and 2020 club options on Manager TERRY FRANCONA.
Exercised the 2017 club option on DH/1B CARLOS SANTANA.
Francona, 57, recently guided Cleveland to its sixth American League pennant in 2016, compiling a regular season record of 94-67 (.584) followed by a postseason 10-5 mark. During his four-year stint as Indians manager, the club has qualified for the postseason play two times and finished with a winning mark in each of those seasons. He owns a 352-294 (.545) mark as Indians manager, the 6th-highest winning pct. in the 116-year history of the franchise. He is 8th all-time in club history in managerial wins. He owns a 16-year career managerial mark of 1381-1209 (.533), the fifth-highest win total among active managers, and has led his clubs to 12 consecutive winning seasons.
Santana, 30, is coming off his best Major League season, hitting .259 (151-582) with 89 runs, 31 doubles, 3 triples, 34 home runs and 87 RBI in 158 games, collecting single-season career bests in homers, extra-bases hits (68), total bases (290), RBI, hits, OPS (.865) & runs. He finished tied for the club lead in homers (T-14th in the American League) and was 3rd in the A.L. in walks (99) and 8th in on-base pct. (.366). His 34 homers were the most by a Major League switch-hitter since 2011. Over the last 15 games of the regular season he batted .411 (23-56) with 7 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR and 13 RBI.