If Clayton Kershaw opts out of the final two years of his new contract, he will be leaving $65 million of a possible $215 million on the table.
Jon Heyman of CBSsports.com reported the year-by-year financial breakdown of Kershaw’s seven-year deal as follows:
2014: $22 million ($18 million signing bonus plus $4 million salary)
2015: $30 million
2016: $32 million
2017: $33 million
2018: $33 million
2019: $32 million
2020: $33 million
Based on salary obligations to current players only, and including the payments from the Boston Red Sox from the 2012 trade for Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford, here are the new Dodgers payroll estimates for each of those seasons:
2014: $229.0 million
2015: $173.9 million
2016: $162.3 million
2017: $162.3 million
2018: $112.6 million
2019: $53.7 million
2020: $33 million