The Los Angeles Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw have agreed on a seven-year, $215 million deal, sources with knowledge of the situation said.
Kershaw has an out clause after five years.
It is the richest deal for a pitcher in Major League Baseball history, eclipsing the seven-year, $180 million contract Detroit gave Justin Verlander last winter and his average annual salary of $30.7 million is the highest ever for any baseball player.
The 25-year-old Kershaw has won two of the last three National League Cy Young Awards and a Roberto Clemente award for his charitable work.
Kershaw and his wife, Ellen, founded an orphanage in the African nation of Zambia called Hope’s Home that they visit every offseason. They co-wrote a book about their experiences last winter called, “Arise: Live Out Your Faith and Dreams on Whatever Field You Find Yourself.”
Kershaw went 16-9 with a 1.83 ERA and 232 strikeouts last season, his sixth with the Dodgers. The left-hander has a 2.60 career ERA and recorded at least 212 strikeouts in each of the past four seasons.
Kershaw had recently completed a two year-$19 million deal. He filed for arbitration on Tuesday and could have become a free agent at the end of this season if the club had elected to go through the arbitration process and signed him to a one year deal.
The Dodgers never intended to let that happen however, as a source confirmed to ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney on Wednesday morning that they hoped to have a new contract in place before Friday’s arbitration hearing.
The Dodgers have long intended to keep Kershaw as the face of their franchise for the rest of his career. The team had discussions with Kershaw and his representatives for more than a year before coming to an agreement Wednesday. The length of the negotiations was more about Kershaw’s desire not to negotiate during the baseball season, a source said.
The team offered Kershaw a deal in the range of $300 million this past season, a source with knowledge of the talks told Olney in October. Although Kershaw initially was uncertain about committing to such a deal, the sides were confident that a long-term contract would be completed at some point in the offseason, according to the source.
The Dodgers now have five players with an average annual value of $20 million or more. Among active contracts (or contracts signed that have not yet started), the Dodgers now have five of the 22 largest average yearly salaries in the sport on the roster — Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Matt Kemp.
Kershaw wasn’t the only Dodgers player to enjoy news of the deal as catcher A.J. Ellis took to Twitter to congratulate the team’s ace.