MLB News & Notes (other than Cubs or Sox)

[jstraw]

And in the '90s and aughts they were all cyborgs. They need to start throttling back a little.

[CFOrfan]

Some how Ronny Cedeno is still in baseball, the Phillies have signed him. And some how he is only 30? What?

[Kid]

So the Dodgers paying Clayton Kershaw almost $31 million/year for 7 years and an out after 5 is a thing that happened.

[1060Ivy]

Here's the ESPN link on Kershaw.

 

Clayton turned down a $300 MM contract last year so some rumors had him planning to test free agency or planning to leave the Dodgers and head back home to Texas.

 

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/story...15-million

[Andy]

Over $30M a season.  Holy sheet!

 

Does that take them out of the Tanaka talks or is $30M no big deal to them?

[funkster]

My guess is it would depend on if they care about the luxury cap.  Don't know if they've said whether they do or not.

[jstraw]

A million bucks per start. Amazing.

[1060Ivy]

Imagine the contract that Mike Trout will be getting when he gets extended or imagine him hitting free agency. 

 

ESPN's Buster Olney poised the question to several manager who indicated that a $400 MM contract may not be out of order.

 

I asked a long-time agent who does not represent Trout what he might ask for in a negotiation for a multiyear deal, and he paused for a few moments, like someone savoring a good piece of steak. 

"Why not do something that's never been done before?" he asked rhetorically. 

What do you mean? 

"Twelve years, $400 million." 

 

Believe it was included in a Baseball Tonight podcast that discussed this piece but the previous was taken from the Bleacher Report.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/18921...illion-man

[Kid]

It's worth noting that this deal includes Kershaw's final arbitration year, in which he probably would have gotten $20M or less.  That makes this even more unbelievable.

[Runnys]

I know it is the market.  But, I can't understand giving that kind of money to a guy that only plays 20% of the games and could blow out an elbow on any pitch.  Think about this, if he pitches the same amount of innings as last year (236 I believe), he is making 130K per inning, or, 43K per out!  That is nuts!

[Kid]

It's hard to call the Kershaw deal a "market" deal.  It's the highest average annual deal in MLB history.  It's not market, it just created a new market.

[Runnys]

By market, I meant SP's getting boatloads of money.  I just can't wrap my head around paying that kind of money to a part time player.  But, if the owners are going to keep offering it then the players will keep asking for it.  

[Coldneck]

The Kershaw deal is absurdly risky. Not only does a pitcher often get injured, but they gave Kershaw an out after 5 years. So if Kershaw is performing up to expectations they won't be able to keep him for the duration of the deal. He'll just opt out of the deal and sign another huge contract with them or elsewhere. The Dodgers have been very irresponsible and it will one day come back to bite them. 

[Gad]

 A lot of the deals the Dodgers have signed were dumb but I have no issues whatsoever with the Kershaw deal.  Only 3 men in modern baseball have led all of MLB in ERA for 3 consecutive seasons.  Lefty Grove, Greg Maddux and Kershaw.

 

Ironically enough, on a Cubs note, the Dodgers chairman Mark Walter, who has Chicago ties, actually used Maddux as part of his reasoning for making sure this got done.  He has never forgotten watching Maddux leave Chicago and become the best pitcher in baseball in Atlanta.  Didn't want to risk a repeat.

 

Also, Hi!

[CFOrfan]

Based on WAR and paying $/WAR, this deal is about what one would expect, maybe less.