5 pitchers the Los Angeles Dodgers should pursue

Ian Kennedy

Ian Kennedy is a free agent because he rejected the qualifying offer from the San Diego Padres. The 30-year-old has never been anything more than a middle-of-the-rotation starter, but has remained healthy since he entered the Diamondbacks rotation in 2010 and has averaged 205 innings per season since. In 30 starts last season, he finished with a 4.28 ERA and 174 strikeouts in 168 innings pitched.

While his ceiling is limited, you know what you’re going to get from Kennedy, and he isn’t a bad option as a potential No. 4 starter. He had a career season in 2011 when he finished with 21 wins, which led the NL, and finished fourth in that season’s Cy Young Award voting. He helped the Diamondbacks win an NL West Division Championship for the first time since 2007. He looked like a promising long-term No. 2 starter. His stuff has never been overly impressive, nor the same since 2011, but he draws swings-and-misses (189 per 34 starts) and does just enough to get batters out at a rate that keeps him bouncing around the West Coast.

According to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, the last team interested in the right-hander was the Marlins, but even then, both sides were apart on a contract agreement. Moving away from the Pacific would be something different for Kennedy. He hasn’t left the confines of the NL West since becoming a Major League mainstay. Kennedy was a Diamondback from 2010-13 and a Padre from 2013-15.

If the Dodgers were to sign Kennedy, they’d have him, Wood, Anderson and McCarthy as options for the team’s 3-4-5 starters. He wouldn’t have to move too far, either, just a four-hour drive up Interstate 5. The Dodgers have already swung and missed on the better arms, so it may be in their best interest to buy even lower on a player who can be had on a one-year contract or a two-year contract with a team option after the first year. Kennedy fits into that type of scenario.