Holy shit, Dodgers lock up Kershaw. Here's a story predicting the likely deal, with a quick summary of the actual deal at the bottom.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-absur...lly-worth/
The deal is a 7 year, $215 million extension (so lasting through his age 32 season). However, there is a player opt-out after 5 years (so through age 30 season). So, assuming Kershaw even comes close to staying at his current level, you can expect this to really be a five year deal. This deal also breaks ARod's 07 renegotiated contract for the highest annual average value of any MLB contract ever.
It sounds like a ridiculous amount of money but the market is what the market is and if the players don't get it then the owners just keep it.
Yeah, but it's stuff like this, why spending is still out of control.
I know it's what the market bares, but giving a pitcher, no matter how good they are/have been, is insane.
Yes, but the Dodgers can afford it and Kershaw lucked into probably the best situation he could have wanted, no way the Dodgers could let him leave and they are printing money right now, so he capitalized. Thing is even if his elbow blows out two years from now I doubt it creates any payroll problems for LA because they are so rich, only problem is you lose the best starter in baseball which is what would have happened anyway if they didn't sign him to the deal. So it is what it is.
It's not really a crazy amount. He's the highest-of-the-high-end pitcher, so if he was a normal free agent he'd command a similar deal but at like $23-25 million (and that'd be a pretty crummy deal). But here you're getting nothing but prime rib, for only a small addition on top.
Yankees land Masahiro Tanaka. He chose wisely. 7 years $155 mil. Not gonna lie, I wanted him on the Cubs. So this kinda sucks, but isn't surprising. At least it's not the Dodgers.
I think he'll be more Darvish than Daisuke. Was there a posting fee on top of that? Like $45 million? Because that's a shitload of money and I'd say it's a pretty substantial risk.
Posting fees cap out at $20m now.
He's basically making Verlander/Hernandez money without doing any of the work.
And it has a 4yr opt out for him.
Yankees still have a bad infield all the way from first to third and their depth is quite poor for an older team but they kind of needed to sign him if they want any chance in the east this year. Still behind Boston and Tampa though.