It is my fervent hope that Part 3 of the WAR study will be up at some point tonight. First, though, and briefly: we all kind of knew this was going to happen. Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball right now, and it isn’t particularly close. The 25 year-old 2-time Cy Young winner has led the National League in ERA each of the last 3 years while averaging over 230 innings pitched, was best in strikeouts in 2011 and 2013 (having finished 2nd in 2012 by one K), and in both 2012 and 2013 led the league in pitcher Wins Above Replacement and adjusted ERA+.
For a couple of years, baseball has speculated that Kershaw would be the first 30 million dollar man, and today it happened. Shortly after filing for arbitration, Kersh and the Dodgers got to work on what would be a 7-year, $215 million dollar contract extension with a player opt-out after five years. The deal is surprisingly reasonable in length given Kershaw’s stature and youth – He’ll only be 32 (the same age Adam Wainwright is today!) when his seven years are up.
ONE TOOL BASEBALL 