The Phillies gave starter Kyle Kendrick a two years, $7.5 million deal to buy out his next two arbitration years. Kendrick agreed to a one year, $3.585 million deal last month that would cover his 2012 season. He's not a particularly great pitcher, and I actually figured he'd be a nontender candidate in the coming offseason. So why did Phillies GM Ruben Amaro feel the need to give Kendrick two guaranteed years?
First off, let's get one thing out of the way here: this isn't about money. $7.5 million over two years is chump change for Philadelphia, who have already sold 3.1 million tickets for games at Citizens Bank Park this season. Getting that fallacy out of the way, why would they want to lock up a guy like Kendrick for two years? This wasn't a move to keep him off the market, as he's still got a year of arbitration left in 2014 as a super two. This wasn't a move to lock up a critical piece of the team, as his role on the 2012 Phillies appears to be th...
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