Padres Avoid Arbitration With Ian Kennedy

Arbitration hearings are not good. They aren’t good for the team. They aren’t good for the player. No one likes them. That’s why it’s good that the Padres avoided an ugly situation with a guy who I consider the ace of the Padres staff.

The team avoided arbitration with righty Ian Kennedy by signing him to a one-year deal worth $9.85 million according to CBS’ Jon Heyman. Kennedy in his last year of arbitration and will be a free agent after the 2015 season.

The 30 year old righty went 13-13 last season with a 3.63 ERA, but a 3.21 FIP.

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As myself and staff writer Daryll Dorman have talked about during this past week, this is a big season for Kennedy. With a better offense (on paper) Kennedy should have better results. He’s also going into his walk year and in what could be a very competitive starting pitching market next season with guys like David Price, Jordan Zimmermann and Johnny Cueto all being possible free agents, it’s gonna be important for Kennedy to be like the 21-4 pitcher he was back in 2011.

Now that his contract is out of the way, he can get himself ready to be the ace on a team with big hopes for 2015.