Clayton Kershaw won two National League Cy Young Awards, three earned run average titles and two strikeout titles and made three trips to the playoffs before turning 26 years old. Now he has another distinction: Kershaw is baseball’s first $200 million pitcher.
Kershaw, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ ace left-hander, reached an agreement Wednesday to stay with the team for seven years and $215 million, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal. The deal will not be officially announced until later this week.
Kershaw, who turns 26 in March, becomes the first player with a contract averaging at least $30 million per season. He was eligible for salary arbitration and could have been a free agent after the 2014 season. Instead, he will be the long-term leader of a rotation that had the best E.R.A. in the majors last season, at 3.13, as the Dodgers advanced to the N.L. Championship Series.
“Big winner today ... me,” the Dodgers’ catcher, A. J. Ellis, said on Twitter. “I am blessed to catch best in the game for foreseeable future God willing. Congrats Kersh!”
By TYLER KEPNER
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