The Kansas City Royals’ title defense is already off and running.
After beating the odds and re-signing outfielder Alex Gordon earlier this month, the Royals agreed to a deal with free agent righthander Ian Kennedy on Saturday.
The deal is for five years and $70 million, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
ian kennedy, royals in agreement on $70M, 5-yr deal
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 16, 2016
Kennedy, 31, is coming off a subpar year with the Padres last season in which he went 9-15 with a 4.28 ERA and 174 strikeouts. But he suffered from low run support (just 3.87 runs a game, per ESPN) as well as an unlucky opposing BABIP (.301, per Fangraphs), both of which should improve drastically behind Kansas City’s high contact rate and elite defense.
Still, this does seem like an overpay for an end of the rotation starter that is prone to the home run ball, especially when he is heading to a ballpark that skews more hitter-friendly. Kennedy will be 36 when the deal expires, and that kind of average annual value seems awfully generous for a pitcher that has gone lousy 44-50 over his last four seasons.
But it’s the kind of marginal upgrade/partial reclamation project that the Royals always seem to strike gold with. Even if nothing more than an innings-eater, Kennedy should still provide some solid value to the team in 2016 and beyond. It’s just a matter of if he can justify the hefty dollar figure Kansas City is entrusting him with in this deal.
Image Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
