He makes the big bucks

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Sources tell ESPN.com that Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers have agreed to a seven-year deal for 215 million bucks.

He has an option-out clause after five years, the story says.

It is the richest deal in Major League Baseball history for a pitcher, eclipsing the seven-year, $180 million deal Detroit gave Justin Verlander last winter.

Five years is a good long time to lock up the best pitcher in baseball. All we have to do now is hope he doesn’t injure himself.

31 thoughts on “He makes the big bucks”

    • Good for the evil empire. I am glad the Dodgers didn’t get him. Now if Ramirez will tell the Dodgers he will play anywhere, first, third, left field, shortstop and be happy, give him a contract that ends when he is the same age Kemp is when Kemp’s contract ends.

      In 2015, after Heron and Beckett are gone, the Dodgers will have two openings for Bills, Lee, etc. I like that although I would trade Puig for Fernandez now.

  3. More discussion of Kershaw’s contract at Grantland. The verdict? As good as he is and as lightly as he’s been used compared to other pitchers who’ve accumulated similar value as expressed by bWAR, the contract is probably just about right for each party.

    • Agree with Package in that you probably wouldn’t get much out of them coming out of ST. Bills won’t be available until June, I believe, so don’t need a place for him right away. If Beckett shows anything during ST, they could always dump League in order to keep him around.

  7. MSTI has gone belly and Mike is joining Chad Moriyama and a couple of other guys in a new blog named DodgersDigest.com. Google search sends me to a page which has only a box for entering password. No help in signing in or creating password. They aren’t going to make much money that way….

  10. “In Kershaw, the Dodgers have exactly the model player that makes a $215 million investment seem easy to digest. Los Angeles did an internal study about how Kershaw rated not just among his peers but also against all pitchers all time. What the Dodgers decided was that he was the best pitcher in history after passing the 1,000-inning mark. What they already knew was that his competitiveness on the mound and his perspective on life were also off-the-charts good.”

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mlb/news/20140115/clayton-kershaw-dodgers-extension/#ixzz2qX4EnzhE

    Jay Jaffe link in middle of that story says team should have no problem affording this. Do ya think?

    http://mlb.si.com/2014/01/15/clayton-kershaw-dodgers-215-million-contract-extension/

  11. No doubt the upcoming arb hearing gave this momentum.

    Also, better to get Kersh nailed down before Tanaka’s deadline. Wouldn’t have sent the right message not to have extended Kersh yet but go ahead & sign Tanaka.

    Which may not happen. But if it does now it won’t look like misplaced priorities.

    • The title in the cover of foxsports Australia said “75c a heart beat, $58 dollars per minute, $3500 an hour”