The Los Angeles Dodgers look to have made keeping the band together the mantra of their offseason. After re-signing lefty Rich Hill to a three-year deal, it’s looked like the priority for the Dodgers has been to re-sign third baseman Justin Turner and closer Kenley Jansen.
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And, according to Ken Rosenthal, they’re close to doing it:
Sources: #Dodgers close on both Turner AND Jansen.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 12, 2016
Huge deals for those two players would keep the Dodgers comfortably in the luxury tax penalty for the foreseeable future, but they apparently aren’t concerned with the financial and potential draft-related repercussions.
The Cubs haven’t been connected to Jansen in a while, and, even when they were, it was considered a long shot that they’d want to book a huge long-term contract for a closer right now. Instead, the Cubs traded for Wade Davis, and kept things short-term.
There are obviously competitiveness implications here for the signing, though – more competitive NL teams means a tougher road to a Wild Card spot if the NL Central proves to be surprisingly difficult this year for the Cubs. And, of course, if the Dodgers and Cubs meet again in the postseason … well, the Cubs will just be better again, I guess. (I kid. Mostly.)
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There’s also a small draft consideration here: with the Dodgers retaining two qualified free agents, the Cubs’ first round draft spot wouldn’t bump up two more places. Hamburgers. (But their compensatory pick spot for Dexter Fowler also wouldn’t bump back two places, so it’s not all bad. It’s also not really a huge deal either way, but, hey, downstream impacts are downstream impacts.)
We’ll keep tabs on this one to see if either deal is actually completed today.
UPDATE: There’s the Jansen deal:
Source confirms: Jansen and #Dodgers in agreement on five-year, $80M contract. First reported: @JimBowden_ESPN.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 12, 2016
The Yankees signed Aroldis Chapman for five years and $86 million, and, with Jansen attached to draft pick compensation, it makes sense that he would come in just shy of Chapman. We’ll see if he gets the many other attractive terms – no trade rights, opt out – that Chapman got.
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UPDATE 2: Everyone seems to believe Turner is done, too:
Hear #Dodgers Turner were close at 4 yrs, $64M, but could be higher total with deferrals to keep current value down.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) December 12, 2016
The lump sum for Jansen, Turner and Hill looks like it will be $192 million.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) December 12, 2016