Dodgers sign Clayton Kershaw to two-year deal

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Jon Weisman

The Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw have agreed to terms on a two-year contract that will keep him out of an arbitration deal at least until 2014, the year he could theoretically become a free agent over my dead body. Details on the deal to come …

Update: Dylan Hernandez of the Times tweets that the deal is worth $19 million. You would figure about $8.5 million of that would come this year and $10.5 million next year, though with the Dodger sale in progress, it might not slice quite like that.

By comparison, Tim Lincecum earned $23 million over his first two arbitration-eligible years (2010-11), which followed back-to-back Cy Young Award wins in 2008 and 2009.

Update 2: The contract is only slightly backloaded, reports Hernandez: $8 million (including a $500,000 signing bonus) in 2012, $11 million in 2013.

Update 3: The Dodgers will pay Kershaw and Matt Kemp a combined $18 million in 2012 and a combined $33 million in 2013. Kemp is earning $10 million this year and $20 million plus $2 million in deferred money next year.

Update 4: Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com reports that $2 million of Kershaw’s 2012 salary is deferred, meaning he’ll be paid $6 million in 2012 and $13 million in 2013. That means the Kemp-Kershaw combo gets $16 million this year and $35 million next year.

Update 5: More from Jackson …

… Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti credited Alex Tamin, the club’s newly hired director of contracts, research and operations who was handing all the team’s arbitration cases for the first time, with coming up with a deal that was fair to both sides.

“It was a full-length process, and it took awhile,” Colletti said. “We had one-year discussions, two-year discussions and four-year discussions. There were a lot of different things in play all the time. Alex did a great job of managing it and keeping it level and giving us a chance at a multiyear deal that gives Clayton and his family some security. And for us, you know what you’re going to be paying (for two years).”

Said Kershaw of the deal: “There were a couple other options (in terms of years), but we felt like this was the best for both sides.” …

http://www.trolleydodger.com/ Robert Daeley

“the year he could theoretically become a free agent over my dead body”

You can have Clayton when you pry him from my cold, dead, commemorative mitt.

Anonymous

Kershaw is that young left handed pitcher isn’t he?

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1478474975 Daisy Gomez

Over my dead body indeed! Hopefully contract extension to come after new ownership is in!
Greg Yaris

figure $18 – 19M for 2014, then FA. So that’s about $37M for his 3 arb years. And then he’s a 27 year old FA. Assuming everything continues as is, he’s a 8/$200M guy for years 27-34.
Anonymous

Hopefully the new owner(s) will be smart enough to make signing Clayton to a long-term (six or seven-year) contract extension one of their first priorities and definitely WELL before this two-year deal is even close to concluding. Clayton will never ever ever come any cheaper than he would right now.

Regardless, this is a GREAT day for Dodger fans!
Anonymous

That buys some time, gives the new owner(s) a chance to get their feet on the ground.

I did like the brief footage of Sandy in the video.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=713935344 Jason Ungar

I gotta say that due to the work done this off-season, the idea that both him and Kemp will be under contract on our team for two more years puts a dent in my anti Coletti campaign.

Anonymous

He still could have done a lot better job.

Anonymous

Definitely good news
http://underdog.typepad.com/ underdog

Great news, and seems about as fair as we could’ve expected. Reasonable, even? And next year, new ownership will be extending him, or the pitchforks will come out of the basement again.
http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

911 call on James Loney freeway incident bit.ly/x53rPw
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Hitchcock/1676059435 Jim Hitchcock

So now CK can donate $250.00 per K!
Anonymous

The comparison with Lincecum is misleading, because Kershaw is significantly younger than Lincecum was at the time of his contract. Kershaw was pitching well in the majors at an age when Lincecum was still facing college hitters for the Washington Huskies.

http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

It’s not a comparison of who’s better at a given age. It’s a comparison of what contract they were offered at a similar level of MLB experience.

Anonymous

Not to denigrate Lincecum, but it’s still misleading, in the sense that Kershaw has achieved more, at a younger age, than Lincecum.

http://underdog.typepad.com/ underdog

Yes and no. Statistically, Kershaw’s been pretty impressive. But Lincecum has achieved two Cy Youngs and one World Series championship (painful for me to type). Anyway, I’m happier to have Kershaw from this point forward, given age comparison, and everything else!

Anonymous

Interesting to me, but the fan elorater on baseall reference has Kershaw several spots ahead of lincecum, and only one spot behind Sabathia.

http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

It’s not, because again, the passage isn’t framed in terms of achievement in terms of age, it’s framed in terms of achievement in terms of experience – which is how arbitration awards are based. The arbitrator doesn’t care how old you are. So there’s no comment either way on who’s further ahead at a given age.
http://profile.yahoo.com/I3ZZ2QUOYTIRJPGJBDE4N3QN3A Michael

I assume that is Alex Trevino catching Orel in the above video.
Anonymous

Glad to hear it….Spring Training around the corner.
Anonymous

This sounds like great news to me. However, I’m already dreading the inevitable 8/200 contract he’ll receive, because I feel like long-term contracts for pitchers almost never work out. On the other hand, losing him to free agency would be a bummer as well.

Anonymous

Don’t spend the next two years fretting over that.

Anonymous

OT – thought the National Pastime number was sensational.
http://underdog.typepad.com/ underdog

Updated piece on Patrick Soon-Shiong’s intention to take part in bid for Dodgers…

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-0208-dodgers-soon-shiong-20120208,0,2638355.story

Question is still, which group will he jump in with…?
Anonymous

I don’t want to upset anybody–I’m still a little unnerved. I walked into my Latin class today, and one of my students shouted out: “Hey, Greg! Did you hear the Giants signed Kershaw to a two-year deal?” I was too tired and preoccupied to realized that this was impossible, and I stared at him in disbelief. A few moments later he said “I mean, the Dodgers signed Kershaw…” But the damage was already done.

http://underdog.typepad.com/ underdog

Naturally, you gave him a “D” for the lapsus linguae.

http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

Keith Law ranks Dodger farm system 12th in MLB. http://es.pn/z8Zzxo

http://underdog.typepad.com/ underdog

For those without Insider… any highlights of his comments? Interesting to see Padres ranked #1, despite not having one clear blue-chipper, just because of all the good depth acquired in trade.
Anonymous

That seems rather generous, though I like some of the lower range prospects that TBLA has mentioned in their countdown. Justin Boudreaux is an especially appealing player from an especially appealing state.

http://underdog.typepad.com/ underdog

It might be because, like the Padres system in a way, the Dodgers have pretty good depth now–more depth at catcher than they had 1-2 years ago, more starting and relief pitching depth, some near-ML ready hitters, etc. I can’t read the piece so I wonder if he counts Rubby in his assessment, but in RP and SP departments they have a lot of potential ML players, still not very deep on offense, though.

http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

“If
pitching wins championships, the Dodgers are in pretty good shape going
forward, as their system is loaded with power arms but is relatively
light on position players.”

http://underdog.typepad.com/ underdog

Cool, thanks. About what I thought, hard to argue with both points.

Anonymous

That’s much better than I would have expected. How does that compare to other rankings? I was under the impression our farm system was in the bottom-5 range, but I can’t think of where I’ve seen that.

http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

I think I’ve usually seen the Dodgers in the high teens, maybe the low 20s. But the pitching really is strong.

Teaser – More on this at Dodger Thoughts later today …

http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

1. San Diego Padres.

Without Anthony Rizzo, they no longer have a top-25 prospect in their system, but in terms of total future value of players likely to play significant roles in the big leagues, they’re ahead of everyone else. Some of these players, especially from the 2011 draft, will develop into stars. But there are so many prospects here with high floors, players who would be top-10 or top-five in other systems but are 11-20 here (such as Robbie Erlin or Edinson Rincon), that they are well-positioned to compete even with modest major league payrolls during the next five to six years. Fans who were upset at the sudden departures of GM Jed Hoyer and assistant GM Jason McLeod for the Cubs should find solace in the fact that the prospects they helped bring into the system (along with many other scouts and execs, including Chris Gwynn, now with Seattle, and Jaron Madison and Randy Smith, still in San Diego) remain in place.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Hitchcock/1676059435 Jim Hitchcock

The prospect of watching The Walking Dead and Downton Abbey back to back on Sunday certainly appeals to my sense of, uh, diversity.

http://underdog.typepad.com/ underdog

If they combined the two they’d have… well, they already have a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies book and possibly movie.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Hitchcock/1676059435 Jim Hitchcock

Udog just figured out his next screenplay!

http://underdog.typepad.com/ underdog

Too late, I think someone beat me to the above already.

Anonymous

I could see Downton Abbey bringing in zomies before long.

http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

Vin Scully on working: ‘I don’t want to lose my friends’ via @laobserved bit.ly/yFOcUN

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Hitchcock/1676059435 Jim Hitchcock

Every superlative has already been used on Vin, but what a wonderful, sweet person he is.

http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

NPUT
.Chuck .Whome

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