Dodgers, Kershaw agree to two-year contract
Clayton Kershaw - S - Los Angeles Dodgers
Feb. 7, 2012 - 5:30 PM ET
Dodgers and LHP Clayton Kershaw avoided arbitration by agreeing to a two-year, $19 million contract.
The deal will cover his first two seasons of arbitration. According to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times, Kershaw receives a $500,000 signing bonus and will make $7.5 million in 2012 and $11 million in 2013. Tony Jackson of ESPN Los Angeles reports that $2 million of his salary for 2012 is deferred until January of 2013. Kershaw requested $10 million (tying a record for a first-time arbitration-eligible player) and was offered $6.5 million by the Dodgers when arbitration figures were exchanged last month, so both sides gave a little in order to get a multi-year deal done. The 2011 National League Cy Young winner remains under team control though 2014.
Source: Los Angeles Dodgers on Twitter