RealGM

The Dodgers have agreed to a one-year, $500,000 deal with left-hander Clayton Kershaw.

He could be baseball's lowest-paid Opening Day starter in the majors.

Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly announced last month that Kershaw, who will turn 23 on March 19, will get the ball for the club's March 31 opener against San Francisco.

Kershaw made $440,000 last year and posted his best season statistically, going 13-10 with a 2.91 ERA and topping the 200 mark in both innings and strikeouts

How is that even possible? That an ace caliber pitcher like Clayton Kershaw could get such a low contract like that ?

http://baseball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... z1FUEnxBXj

Haven't heard of him, can you give a comparison to who this guy is like?

RocLaFamilia wrote:Haven't heard of him, can you give a comparison to who this guy is like?

You're kidding right ?

i don't want to look it up but i'm guessing he doesn't have enough service time to hit arbitration, so he's still making the league minimum, nothing interesting here.

RocLaFamilia wrote:Haven't heard of him, can you give a comparison to who this guy is like?

Assuming you were being serious, he is one of the best young pitchers in baseball and personally he reminds me of barry zito at his peak.

DonYon wrote:

RocLaFamilia wrote:Haven't heard of him, can you give a comparison to who this guy is like?

Assuming you were being serious, he is one of the best young pitchers in baseball and personally he reminds me of barry zito at his peak.

Hes more like peak zito on roids (mid90s fastball and all) and if he ever gets a handle on the walks, then we will have a Sandy Koufax part deux.

500 Ks, 3.17 career ERA, and still pre-arb. wow. Shows you how valuable some prospects can be.

blackflash234 wrote:How is that even possible? That an ace caliber pitcher like Clayton Kershaw could get such a low contract like that ?

Players with less than three years' service time (except in the case of those who reach Super 2 status, but I won't get into that unless you're interested) are not arbitration-eligible, and cannot seek free agency, and thus almost all of them get paid close to the minimum salary, give or take a hundred thou.

They generally take these one-year re-ups rather than long-term deals because, at this point, the team has almost all the leverage...between 3-5 years of remaining control left, depending on service time, which means that most long-term deals signed at this juncture will be extremely favourable for the team. Look at Evan Longoria's deal, which maxes at nine years and less than $50m; comically cheap for what he provides.

However, if they're willing to earn a pittance for a couple years and risk injury derailing things, the leverage shifts after the first arb year; they'll start making real money, and with free agency looming they can either sign a big long-term contract, or take a couple years of arb raises and hit the market, where they'll make a tonne. Short-term pain for long-term gain.

Makes sense.

Jays demanded Kershaw being the starting point of any trade involving Roy Halladay....... Dodgers didn't listen much after that

atleast thats what I was hearing from the media

DonYon wrote:

RocLaFamilia wrote:Haven't heard of him, can you give a comparison to who this guy is like?

Assuming you were being serious, he is one of the best young pitchers in baseball and personally he reminds me of barry zito at his peak.

LOL I feel stupid, but yes I was serious. I don't keep up with baseball like I used to. I just know the Jays very well and thats it TBH.

How does he compare with the kid from Washington? I thought he was touted as the next best thing?

RocLaFamilia wrote:

DonYon wrote:

RocLaFamilia wrote:Haven't heard of him, can you give a comparison to who this guy is like?

Assuming you were being serious, he is one of the best young pitchers in baseball and personally he reminds me of barry zito at his peak.

LOL I feel stupid, but yes I was serious. I don't keep up with baseball like I used to. I just know the Jays very well and thats it TBH.

How does he compare with the kid from Washington? I thought he was touted as the next best thing?

Strasburg was the next best thing until he got injured. Kershaw is in a different category, he might not be among the all time greatest like Strasburg could have been but the production he's providing at his age is amazing.

If Kershaw can avoid injury and lower his walk rate a tad, he could be one of the most dominant pitchers of his generation. He led the bigs in hits/9 as a 21 year old, strikes out a tonne of batters, and doesn't give up many HRs...plus the whole 'throwing 93 from the left side with movement' thing.

Avenger wrote:Strasburg was the next best thing until he got injured. Kershaw is in a different category, he might not be among the all time greatest like Strasburg could have been but the production he's providing at his age is amazing.

In terms of a basketball comparison like a Kevin Durant?

RocLaFamilia wrote:

Avenger wrote:Strasburg was the next best thing until he got injured. Kershaw is in a different category, he might not be among the all time greatest like Strasburg could have been but the production he's providing at his age is amazing.

In terms of a basketball comparison like a Kevin Durant?

A Greg Oden vs. Kevin Durant comparison sort of makes sense.