Brandon McCarthy has reached an agreement to sign a four-year, $48 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first broke the news of the two sides nearing an agreement late Wednesday night. The signing helps the Dodgers bolster the back end of their starting rotation.
McCarthy, 31, will likely step into the number four spot in the rotation – now vacant after the team dealt right-hander Dan Haren to the Miami Marlins and subsequently sent Andrew Heaney, one of pieces received in that same deal, to the Los Angeles Angels.
This will be the right-hander’s third team in the last six months and his second chance at the NL West. McCarthy has pitched for the Chicago White Sox, Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics, Arizona Diamondbacks, and New York Yankees during his nine year career. In 2014, between the D’backs and Yankees, he went 10-15 with a 4.05 ERA and 1.275 WHIP. He was a disaster with Arizona at the beginning of the year, but turning things around once he was dealt to New York.
When healthy, McCarthy can be a consistent starter who can eat innings. His tenure with the D’backs wasn’t really successful. He went 8-21 in 40 starts and was on track to post career-worst numbers in nearly every statistical category this past season before he was traded to New York. McCarthy did see an increase in his strikeout rate, improving to 7.88 K/9, but he is known primarily as a ground ball pitcher. His 52.6% ground ball rate ranked 14th among starting pitchers this past season.
McCarthy’s velocity increased as well in 2014, as Brad Johnson stated at FanGraphs. His fastball increased from 90-91 to an average of 93 miles per hour.
2014 also marked the first time in his career that McCarthy made more than 25 starts and reached 200 innings in a single season. Injuries to his shoulder have limited him for years. McCarthy was also struck in the head by a line drive in 2012, resulting in emergency surgery to alleviate bleeding around his brain.
The contract may appear to be an overpay based on the production McCarthy has provided over the past few seasons, but we know that the Dodgers aren’t afraid to spend big. This could turn out to be a free agent steal if he’s able to continue pitching as effectively as he was the second half of the season with New York.