FanHouse AlbertBelle

The Indians have had a pretty simple philosophy for years now: Acquire young talent, watch it blossom, and then sign it to a long-term contract. I can't be sure, but I'm guessing this philosophy is a direct result of seeing the best players from their dominant teams of the 90's leave via free agency after blowing up in Cleveland. Guys like Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, and Jim Thome (those teams had the best lineup from top to bottom that I have ever seen).

It all started when the team wrapped up Grady Sizemore to a contract extension after only one season in Cleveland, and has been followed up with contracts for Travis Hafner, Jake Westbrook, and Cliff Lee over the last year. (Okay, so the Cliff Lee deal looks like a mistake at the moment, but you can't win them all!) Today it's Fausto Carmona's turn.

The Indians have signed Carmona to a historic long-term contract that has the potential to be seven years long. The first four years of the pact are guaranteed, with three individual club options for 2012, '13 and '14 tacked on. The deal will be announced at a press conference at Progressive Field on Thursday afternoon.

The value of the four-year guarantee was not immediately known. But it is known that if the deal goes the distance, Carmona will earn $43 million over the seven years, with escalators pushing its potential value to $48 million.

It's a historic deal, too, as it's the most money ever guaranteed to a pre-arbitration eligible player, and it's also the most guaranteed money ever given to a pitcher with only one full year of service time. Time will tell whether or not the Indians regret making this move, but I get the feeling they won't be sorry they did, at least not as far as Carmona is concerned.

What I'm really wondering is how much this is bothering C.C. Sabathia. He can't be happy watching all of his teammates get long-term deals from the Indians, while he sits and waits for the team to get serious with him. I can't help but feel that this is just another sign that there's no way Sabathia will be back in Cleveland next season.

FanHouse's Top Five scans the sports blogosphere for the best posts of the last 24 hours so you don't have to. Got something for this feature? Hit us up at fanhouse@googlegroups.com.

1) Rarely does the sports blogosphere deviate into the short-story narrative department, but over at Free Darko Bethlehem Shoals enlisted Jake of Bread City Basketball to drop the hammer on a fantastic story meshing life and basketball into one. If you have ten minutes to kill today -- and even if you don't -- you have no reason not to go check it out. Fantastic stuff.

2) Perhaps trying to eschew you from the horror of steroids, Cracked has compiled their list of nine baseball moments more wretched than steroids. My personal favorite is Albert Belle coming in at No. 5 for chasing trick-or-treaters with his car and clipping one with his fender. See kids, steroids aren't the worst thing in the world.

3) Via the brilliance that is Fire Joe Morgan comes this somewhat aloof column from the Stamford Times penned by one Mr. Andy Rooney. You know, his rule changes might just work out in the end ... or not.

4) You may not believe it, but there is a young athlete blogging out there that actually pays attention to punctuation and grammar. (Cue commenters finding something wrong with mine.) Anyways, it's Jozy Altidore of the New York Red Bulls who's throwing down the occasional post over at the New York Times' Goal blog. Check it out, son. (Thanks to the Big Lead for the heads up.)

5) Losers with Socks presents Tennessee's offensive playbook. Who know it was all so simple?

Remember those Indians teams of the 90's? That lineup that featured players like Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez, Jim Thome, Roberto Alomar, Sandy Alomar Jr, and Carlos Baerga? The most important member of that lineup, which in my opinion is one of the best I've ever seen, was Kenny Lofton.

He set everything up for everybody else. Lofton had some of the best years of his career in Cleveland, and now there's a possibility he may be rejoining the club in the coming weeks.

As the Rangers start retooling for next season, Lofton and Sosa could be among the first Rangers traded. Lofton has drawn significant interest from Cleveland and Milwaukee, both of which had scouts at Saturday's game, and several other clubs have shown preliminary interest.

I'm no expert, but I'm guessing none of those "several other clubs" are the New York Yankees.

Switching clubs is nothing new for Lofton, so it's no wonder he looks at these rumors the way he does.

"I've been around the game a long time, and I've seen players come and go," said Lofton, who has been dealt three times previously around the trade deadline. "I look at the whole situation like it's still just a ballgame. It's still baseball. I've never been one to go off what the talk was."

Grady Sizemore owns centerfield at Jacob's Field now, but it would still be a nice story if Lofton did return to Cleveland, and finally won that World Series that eluded him during his previous stay there.

As aptly described at Fark Sports, the Dodgers April 15th game against the Padres will be just like that old Bugs Bunny episode.

Playing first base for the Dodgers, # 42. Playing second base for the Dodgers, # 42. Pitching for the Dodgers, # 42.

Because as announced on the Dodgers official site, the team will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball in a unique way.

the Dodgers decided to have their entire team wear uniform No. 42 on Jackie Robinson Day in tribute to the late Hall of Famer who broke baseball's color barrier while wearing Dodger Blue.

Check out Sons of Steve Garvey who obtained a sneak peak at the Dodgers scoreboard for that night. Additionally, Juan Pierre and Marlon Anderson will conduct a youth clinic at the MLB Urban Youth Academy in South Central Los Angeles the previous day. While there's no possible way for baseball to thank and honor Jackie Robinson enough for what he went through and endured in paving the way for many future black players, the Dodgers are certainly making their attempts.

Furthermore, Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. will also wear jersey No. 42 in honor of Robinson on April 15th. Griffey Jr. petitioned the league to wear the number, since it was retired throughout baseball in 1997 on the 50th anniversary. Padres OF Mike Cameron will also wear No. 42 in honor of Robinson when they play the Dodgers on the 15th, and he will even go completely old school.