Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers agree to $215 million extension

It’s also not as if the Dodgers lack space for Tanaka. Right now, their fifth starter is a mix of Josh Beckett and Chad Billingsley. Billingsley had Tommy John surgery after throwing all of two innings in 2013, and he should be ready fairly early this season, but whether that’s a positive or not is up for debate. Billingsley was a better pitcher earlier in his career, but from 2009 through 2012, his ERA+ was exactly 100, and he averaged 181 innings per season. That’s a good pitcher, there is no arguing that, but he’s up-and-down and absolutely replaceable if the Dodgers can get someone like Tanaka to do the replacing.

Tanaka fits the Dodgers two-part plan in which they spend everything that needs to be spent while they rebuild the farm system. All he costs is money, much like Kershaw and Greinke, and that’s something the Dodgers have plenty of, and, more importantly, don’t mind parting with. He makes more sense in this plan than David Price would, and while the Dodgers might not ultimately ink Tanaka, they have an opportunity to try. It’s a good time to be a Dodgers’ fan if they are truly intent on both responsibility on the farm and pumping dollars into the major-league product, and even if Tanaka doesn’t end up in Dodger blue, at least you know Kershaw isn’t going anywhere.

The Dodgers still have interest in Masahiro Tanaka and Bronson Arroyo, even after reaching a record-setting deal with Clayton Kershaw on Wednesday, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports.

Dodgers management has remained mum on Tanaka thus far, though reports have indicated that any Tanaka move would be an “ownership decision.” Stan Kasten did suggest that the pending Kershaw deal wouldn’t necessarily have an impact on any other contract, per the LA Times’ Bill Shaikin. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports agreed saying:

Kershaw is obviously a very special pitcher, the National League’s ERA leader in each of the last three seasons and winner of the Cy Young award in two of those three. Kershaw’s 2013 ERA of 1.83, when considered in the context of park and league, is one of the 40 best seasons in history among pitchers who have thrown 200 or more innings in a season. That is not to say the deal is without risks: Seven years is a long time for a pitcher to go without having a major injury or a decline in skills, and pitchers who rely on the slider are not known for their durability (Steve Carlton, who pitched forever at 250 innings a year, notwithstanding).

Possibly global warming will cause the Pacific Ocean to inundate Los Angeles as far inland as Chavez Ravine, requiring an expensive relocation to Rancho Cucamonga. The Dodgers might need to free up some cash then. More seriously, baseball has an uncanny way of making teams pay for being overcommitted. Given the sheer absurd depth of the Dodgers’ line of credit, how they might come a cropper may not be obvious now, but the danger is real. For those who enjoy watching Kershaw pitch (which, it is to be hoped, includes everyone reading this here web site), it is to be hoped that said danger is not that of having a pitcher with a torn labrum taking up a constipating chunk of payroll.