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The Philadelphia Phillies and right-handed pitcher Kyle Kendrick have agreed to a two-year deal worth $7.5 million, the club announced today via Twitter. In case you forgot, the Phillies and Kendrick avoided salary arbitration with the righty when they signed him to a one-year, $3.6 million deal in January, as our very own Satchel Price wrote.
Kendrick, 27, has played each of his five seasons with the Phillies, and has earned a 4.41 ERA for his career. This was the first year he was arbitration eligible and made $2.45 million in 2011. He started 15 games last season, winning 8, but spent the rest of his time out of the bullpen and will likely resume that role in 2012.
The deal is quite puzzling to me right now, since they already had locked up Kendrick for the year. In addition, the 27-year-old isn't exactly a key cog to the team to be guaranteed a deal like this one.