Phillies sign Kendrick to two-year deal
CLEARWATER, Fla. — On the day spring training begins, Kyle Kendrick has a new contract.
Phillies sign Kendrick to two-year deal
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
Phillies' pitcher Kyle Kendrick signed a two-year deal with the Phillies. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
CLEARWATER, Fla. — On the day spring training begins, Kyle Kendrick has a new contract.
The Phillies have signed the righthander to a two-year, $7.5 million deal. The contract is for 2012 and 2013. It supersedes the previous one-year, $3.585 million deal the two sides reached earlier this offseason to avoid arbitration.
The deal leaves Kendrick with one remaining arbitration year in 2014. He has four years of arbitration as a Super 2 player.
If anything, the deal allows the Phillies to budget for a strict number. Kendrick was scheduled to earn a $1.4 million raise from 2011 to 2012. This deal prevents a similar raise in 2013 through the arbitration process. Now Kendrick, for budgetary purposes is locked into an AAV (annual average value) of $3.75 million.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Comments (31)
Agree with Mark1npt. Good post. Why so little love for KK. Just because you don't throw 110 mph does not mean you are dogmeat. Pitchers like Jamie Moyer showed that command and control can take you a long way in baseball.— Dragon13- Can't believe you guys who have no clue about what you're talking about......KK is a heckuva pitcher and a heck of a competitor.....you all forget that over the past 5 years he's within about 5 wins of your golden boy Hamels the $100 man.....and you begrudge the guy $3.5 mil/per? That's absolutely stupid cluelessness......KK's hanging around with Lee, Halladay and Oswalt has already paid dividends....you don't have to throw 94-95 to be successful and win games in MLB.....he has upside left and is only now tapping into it......and you call Rube clueless? You forget we won a WS with KK and Blanton and Moyer and without Lee and Halladay......you people with your Fantasy League stats and all star lineups are hilarious! Good Sunday reading......btw, it's sunny, and a blustery 85 down here in good old FL today!— Mark1npt
- amazing what a moron clueless rube is— warbiscuit
- The Kendrick deal give the Phils salaray certainty AND if they choose, they can trade the man while other teams are aware of his "less than $4 million per season price tag". Don't underestimate this signing. RAJ is up to something, and Oswalt is still unsigned. The Joel Pinero signing was not just a fluke folks. He is in camp early and healthy. If healthy, this guy can be a ground ball machine (was his 1st season in Anaheim and prviously, in Seattle). His knee was messed up last season and couldn't get the sinker to "sink". Don't be surprised of both Kendrick/Blanton are eventually moved this Spring. RAJ has his fingers into stirring up the pot right now. The quieter he gets, the more he is up to something.— drhoffman
- I am in the minority..I like the deal for mini-Roy and the Phillies..even if he is a 5th in the rot..he still is good enuf.— Romus
Now if we only had a mad scientist formula to mash together the best traits of Blanton and Kendrick, we might be getting somewhere. Individually, neither of them excites me. Let's hope May, Colvin or Biddle stay on track to replace either/both by 2013/2014.- Stephanie has to be happy.....— urkidnmepal
- oh my, a 3.5 million dollar committment is going to sink this team with a 170 million dollar payroll. everyone panic!
by the way, forget building the mound in your backyard, if your kid can be a punter or a long snapper he can play 6 plays a game and work for 15 years.
by the way, johnny damon still looking for a team and wont cost a dime. if they hadnt signed thome.....— jim715 - Unnecessary is the perferct word here. The Phillies Farm System strength is in its young quality pitching. I just cant see tying yourself to Kendrick for $7.5 M when you have much better arms with higher upside that you could be paying $400 K.
Flash back to last year. Kendricks numbers were very good but an anomally from his career numbers. Did he learn to become a better pitcher? Yes somewhat but Chol and Dubes also coddled him quite a bit. When you need to be coddled should you be making $ 7.5 M? Maybe I could see it if KK threw 93-94 and had some upside but to me KK just isnt a $4 M a year pitcher.— argonne - Congrats, KK! I am so pumped for this season!!!— Clt Philly Fan
- Why would Manuel be fired when the Phils will be in first place? Glad you are not the GM. We'd be lower than KC.— mike l
- I'm just at a little loss for words. I just don't think a 2 year deal was necessary for KK. And what's with RAJ and 2 year deals anyway?
@mrdip: I don't think he's better than an average pitcher. He's probably avg to a little below avg. If you look at all pitchers who threw at least 200 innings over the last 2 years (139 of them) he ranks:
131 in fWAR (0.9fWAR over past two years), 59th in ERA (but 13th in both FIP and xFIP). BP has him at similar rates with their valuation metrics too.
I'm not going to be super pissed at the move, I just find it unnecessary.— TeamAwesome - Are you really Billy Beane...or is it Brad Pitt? You sabr guys amaze me with your stats. — Romus
- Folks, get with reality - a) KK is a little better than the average pitcher in the majors, and b) a lot of average pitchers are making a lot more than 7.5 over 2 years.
Good deal for Phils, better deal for KK....... I wish I could throw a pitch 89 mph..... sigh— mrdip 
Comment removed.- Now you've overreached.Time to go back to that moment where the car hit the pole. (HTML deleted)
— 24sDad - Now you've overreached.
Time to go back to that moment where the car hit the pole.— 24sDad - Why commit your team to this guy for an added year??Maybe you don't worry about abitration next year because you get someone who is better than he is and you don't offer him a contract at all.He must have pictures on Amaro and/or Manuel.— snowman100
- Lacrosse? Basketball? Football? Any male with a son under the age of 12 should be in his backyard building a pitcher's mound with the passion of Richard Dryfus in Close Encounters of the Thrid Kind while building a replica of Devil's Tower. Good for you Kyle. Enjoy paying the income taxes to cover the lowly 99%.— 5280philly
- hah No i was in foul territory down the RF Line. Andre Either nearly torqued that ball into my skull. Be on your toes when KK is on the mound.
I like the kid personally and am happy he cashed(good for him) but when the KK's of the world are signing $7.5 M contracts then the game is too diluted.— joe smith - They're crazy. Amaro just guaranteed Kendrick another year at a salary he's unlikely to deserve. In fact, its no sure bet that Kendrick would make the team in 2013 at ANY salary. Now its locked in. Pure insanity.— SteveS11
- Joe Smith. If you were 300 feet from home plate you would be on the field, not in the upper level in right field. Wow. Funny man.— simplefreedom
- Bam Not sure GM's will be knocking down the door to trade for a RHP who throws 89-91 MPH. I'll never forget a game I was at in 2010 (CBP). I was in the upper level deeep in the RF line. KK served up a meatball to Either that nearly decapitated me. I was 300 feet from home plate and that ball was still accelerating.
KK just hit the lottery. Good for him. Personally if I were Phils GM I would have non tendered him.— joe smith - Little KK could become trade bait now that other teams have 2 years of cost certainty plus a 3rd arbitration year.— BammBamm
- Kendrick has no value to other teams. If were to trade him, it would be for something similar to what we got for Valdez- a minor league body or two. Soft-throwing righties with no more upside and little movement do not command much, especially at over $7 million the next two years. — Bobby Yost
- trade HOLLTWOOD CRYBABY, QUITTER, HAMELS, POLANCO, AND DOM BUST BROWN TO RAYS FOR 3B EVAN LONGORIA, IF RAYS WANT A COUPLE MORE A PROSPECTS GIVE IT TO THEM— VANIMALS SWEATY GOGGLES
- The post above, and the author of it, are mere skidmarks on the way to eternity. — 24sDad
- Comment removed.
- Good followup by Dean1959 on the 'skidmarks to eternity.'
How appropriate! Great timing.
Live fast, die young. Leave a great looking corpse.— 24sDad 
Little KK better come through— shawnmac
1
About this blog
The Phillies Zone is the place for up-to-the-minute Phillies coverage from the Inquirer.
Matt Gelb
Inquirer Staff Writer
Bob Brookover
Inquirer Baseball Columnist
Search this blog:
Classifieds:
Site Services:
Partners:
Powered By:
