Pitcher Clayton Kershaw signs $93 million contract with Los Angeles Dodgers
On November 2, the MLB announced that Los Angeles Dodgers and three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw reached an agreement on a contract extension that will keep the seven-time All-Star with the Dodgers through 2021.
This will be a lucrative extension for the pitcher and will pay Kershaw $93 million, according to ESPN. The new contract “includes incentives based on workload and performance. Kershaw reportedly will receive $4 million annually in bonuses based on starts, in four $1 million increments, as well as other incentives.”
The 30-year-old Kershaw made 26 starts for the Dodgers this season going 9-5 with a 2.73 ERA (49 ER/161.1 IP) and striking out 155 batters against just 29 walks. He also held the opposition to a .227 batting average, while posting a 1.04 WHIP and collecting 20 quality starts. Despite missing some time with two different stints on the disabled list earlier in the season, the southpaw finished the 2018 campaign ranking among National League pitchers with at least 25 starts in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.34, 3rd), ERA (4th), WHIP (4th), opponents’ on-base percentage (.264, 4th), quality starts (T-6th), opponents’ OPS (.630, 8th) and opponents’ batting average (11th).
Kershaw told ESPN that his hope leading up to the contract extension was always to be able to stay in Los Angeles.
“Honestly, I wanted to stay here,” Kershaw said. “Financial, everything aside, it was more valuable to me to stay here. I’m glad we got that done. I talked a lot with Ellen [his wife]. My kiddos love it here, Ellen loves it here, I love it here. I love the team here. There’s not many opportunities that meet all the criteria that Ellen and I would be looking for.
The 2014 National League Most Valuable Player completed his 11th big league season with the Dodgers (2008-18) this past year and in 318 career games (316 starts), Kershaw has gone 153-69 with a 2.39 ERA and has struck out 2,275 batters against 557 walks. Since the start of the live ball era in 1920, he has the lowest all-time career ERA and WHIP (1.00) among starting pitchers with more than 1,500 innings pitched, while his opponents’ batting average (.207) ranks third, behind only Nolan Ryan (.204) and Sandy Koufax (.205).
Kershaw was originally selected by Los Angeles in the first round (seventh overall) of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft out of Highland Park High School in Texas.
For more on the story, see the video accompanying this article.
Also see: Dodgers clinch National League title to face Red Sox in 2018 World Series
(Source: MLB)
https://youtu.be/cbXnxVYBznc
~ Posted by: Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
