Clayton Kershaw has signed the dotted line on a $19 million two-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers signing Kershaw has helped both club and player avoid a potentially awkward salary arbitration hearing – a scheduled arbitration hearing to determine Kershaw’s salary for the upcoming season was just a week away. Kershaw had asked for $10 million, while the Dodgers would only go to $6.5 million. The left-hander was paid $500,000 in his Cy Young Award season last year.
With this new deal signed and sealed, the young pitcher won’t become a free agent until after the 2014 season is completed. Kershaw revealed he was happy with the outcome, as you would be if someone said they’d be stuffing $163,000 in your pocket every week:
“I think everybody feels good about it.”
Well, quite. Kershaw will now be paid $7.5 million next season, as well as a $500,000 signing bonus. In 2013, he’ll rake in an $11 million salary.
This works both ways, naturally. The Dodgers will be pleased to have secured the considerable talents of a 23-year-old pitcher who would have no shortage of offers from other teams. General Manager Ned Colletti told the LA Times :
“When you think about how he’s 23 years old and how he’s progressed as a pitcher, how he’s taken his great gift and put in the work to refine it, that says a lot about him.”
Kershaw clinched the National League’s triple crown of pitching last season. He led the league with 21 wins, a fine 2.28 earned-run average and 248 strikeouts.
