Dodgers Deal With Howie Kendrick Now Official

Now we can all exhale, as the Dodgers made their two-year deal with Howie Kendrick official.

If this offseason has taught us anything, it’s that deals can (and will) fall apart. The Dodgers had deals in place with Hisashi Iwakuma and a trade in place for Aroldis Chapman, but both moves fell apart for different reasons.

For many reasons, Dodger fans grew wary of every deal, not wanting to count on it until it’s 100 percent official. So understandably, when the Dodgers reportedly had an agreement with Kendrick, there was some skepticism.

Kendrick, who played last season in LA after nine seasons in Anaheim, has been an impressively consistent offensive player. He’ll pretty much always hit in the .280-.290 range, get on base at a .330ish clip and finish somewhere around 10 homers. He had always been an above-average defender before last year, when most defensive metrics rated him as average or below average.

Kendrick will be 33 in July and the Dodgers seemed uninterested in bringing him back at first. Reports indicated that the Dodgers were content to let him walk and gain the draft pick attached to Kendrick after he turned down the qualifying offer. His market remained quiet for a lot of the offseason, and the Dodgers swooped in with an absolute bargain of a contract.

Essentially, Kendrick will be making $5M a year for the next four years.

Kendrick’s consistency is so valuable to a team with a number of question marks on the roster. Second base seemed to be the biggest question mark, as a platoon of Chase Utley and Enrique Hernandez didn’t exactly fill fans with confidence. I would assume the Dodgers would primarily plug Kendrick in at second, but reports could indicate otherwise. Between Kendrick, Utley and Hernandez, the Dodgers should have enough versatility to cover themselves in a number of different scenarios.

The Dodgers have another move to make, as their roster currently has one more bench player than they probably should. A.J. Ellis and Scott Van Slyke are essentially guaranteed bench roles. Carl Crawford and Alex Guerrero are pretty much immovable. One of Utley or Hernandez was going to start every day, but now they both seem destined for bench spots. Andre Ethier trade rumors are running wild (like always), so that could open up a roster spot. I’d prefer if they jettison Guerrero into space, but either way there are still some moves to be made between now and opening day, which is exactly two months from now.

In other news, Bob Nightengale tweeted that Yasiel Puig is not on the market. Which is the right call. But since Nightengale tweeted it, I’d give it a week before he’s gone.