Ian Kennedy gets his first contract from the San Diego Padres
This is Ian Kennedy's second go around in his arbitration years. Last year he got a huge raise going from $519,500 in 2012 to $4.265 million in 2013. That was in large part due to his fantastic 2011 season and 15 wins in 2012. His performances while making near the league minimum in his early years justified that hefty raise. His 2013 season proved that he is still a durable starter capable of making 30+ starts per season, but otherwise his performance was not up to his previous levels. Nevertheless the arbitration process basically requires that he get another raise, just not quite as big this time.
The Padres and Kennedy settled on an amount of $6.1 million in 2014 salary. This is close to the MLBTradeRumors,com predicted amount of $5.8 million, so nothing seems out of the ordinary with that number. Despite being a lesser raise than the one he got this time last year, that dollar figure is still a tidy sum and one that will not be justified if he repeats his 2013 performance. Hopefully this salary will mean more than a paycheck to Kennedy and he will use the Padres' monetary support as fuel to get back to the heights he has climbed in previous years.