Kansas City Royals pitcher Ian Kennedy has the chance to opt out of the five-year, $70 million deal he signed prior to the 2016 season. This winter will be his only chance to use it, a mechanism many players have negotiated into their contracts so they’ll have the chance to make more money or get more years if they perform well enough to justify it.
Kennedy hasn’t done so — and he’s not afraid to say it.
“It would be pretty stupid if I did,” Kennedy said last week of exercising the opt-out, via Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star.
Kennedy has won just four of his 25 starts and has an ERA of 5.47 — numbers that certainly would not get him a deal that tops the three years and almost $50 million he will still be guaranteed if he remains under contract.
“I don’t think anybody would want how I’ve been throwing lately,” Kennedy said. “Shoot, I haven’t thought about it. If you’re throwing well, then you start thinking about it.
“But right now, it doesn’t look too good. You don’t go to the free-agent market pitching how I’ve been. No one is going to want that.”
Several players have used the opt-out to great effect in the past. Unfortunately for Kennedy, he won’t be among them, but he’s still guaranteed to have some significant cash coming his way.
