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LOS ANGELES – Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed on a three-year extension that will prevent the biggest pitcher of his generation from venturing into the free agent market.
The Dodgers announced the extension on Friday.
The deal will bring Kershaw $ 93 million, a source told ESPN, and includes workload and performance incentives. Kershaw would receive $ 4 million a year in bonuses based on housing starts, in installments of $ 1 million, as well as other incentives.
The seven major league players to receive Friday qualifying offers have 10 days to accept a salary of $ 17.9 million for 2019 or become a free agent.
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The extension replaces the two years and $ 65 million remaining of Kershaw's $ 215 million seven-year extension in January 2014.
"Honestly, I wanted to stay here," said Kershaw. "Financial, all set apart, it was more valuable for me to stay here, I'm glad it was done, I've talked a lot with Ellen (his wife). My kids love it here, Ellen I love it here, I love it here, I love the team here because there are not many opportunities that meet all the criteria that Ellen and I were looking for.
"Myself, personally, a chance to win every year, it does not come often like that at LA We just decided that it was a much better option to try to work here than to do something else . "
Kershaw, who turned 30 in March, said staying with the Dodgers would also allow him to answer some of his critics who claimed he was no longer as dominant as in the past.
"It gives me a chance to prove that a lot of people are wrong," he said. "I think this year in particular – rightly so maybe – a lot of people have said that I'm declining or that I'm not going to be as good as I've been." I can not wait to prove a lot of people who are wrong with that. "
Kershaw was originally scheduled to withdraw from the deal on Wednesday, but both sides agreed to postpone it until Friday afternoon. At a press conference Thursday, Dodgers baseball operations president, Andrew Friedman, called it a "nice negotiation."
"Many people have said that I was declining or that I would not be as good as before … I can not wait to prove that many people are wrong with that."
Clayton Kershaw
The new deal gives Kershaw a slightly lower average annual value than its former contract ($ 31 million instead of $ 32.5 million), but it earns another year and gives it the opportunity to earn more. The Dodgers, meanwhile, can retain their star launcher without engaging deeply in Kershaw's 30 years.
He will return to lead a rotation that already looks deep, with Walker Buehler, Rich Hill, Alex Wood, Kenta Maeda, Ross Stripling and perhaps Julio Urias. Hyun-Jin Ryu is eligible for free trade alongside Manny Machado and receiver Yasmani Grandal.
Ryu and Grandal were offered qualifying offers on Friday.
Kershaw has three Cy Young Awards and an MVP, and has made seven round trips to the All-Star Game in his first 11 seasons.
Few people throughout history have been better, even at a time when pitching dominated the league. Only 13 throwers have completed at least 2,000 rounds and have a career career record that is lower than Kershaw's (2.39). None of them has gone beyond the 1927s. Of the 30 after him in the rankings, only one went beyond the 1930s.
But it was these prowess of the regular season that made his overall playoff performance so disappointing.
Kershaw compiled an ERA of 4.32 in 152 playoff heats, a substantial sample littered with exasperating ups and downs. The difference between Kershaw's EAR for the regular season and the EAR in the playoffs is the second highest among those with at least 50 innings in the playoffs, followed by the former Tim Wakefield, the knuckleballer of the Boston Red Sox.
His last start was the last game of the Dodgers in the 2018 season, when he allowed four points in seven innings and was defeated by David Price of the Red Sox in the fifth game of the World Series. Kershaw's fastball averaged only 90 mph this Sunday night, a snapshot of the decline caused by an exorbitant workload and three consecutive seasons of back injuries.
Asked about the potential to regain his velocity, Kershaw replied that he "did not heed this".
"It could very well," he said. "I have some ideas on what I can do to improve this, because a lot of guys are older than me, a lot of guys with more leagues in the big leagues, who still keep their speed. Some things I need to work on during the off season. "
Kershaw has always managed a 2.71 GAW and 1.04 WHIP in 161 regular season laps in 2018, and he remains one of the most important members of the Dodgers.
Asked about Kershaw's value earlier this week, Friedman said: "He had the most impact possible on an organization in terms of success, not only in the field, but from a point of view cultural, raise young pitchers and imitate the work ethic, motivation. "
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