Dodgers reward Kemp with franchise-record extension

Los Angeles, CA – While their ownership situation year contract extension.

The $160 million deal is the largest contract in team history, trumping the $105 million pact the team gave to Kevin Brown back in 1998.

Kemp is coming off his finest year as a pro, as he nearly pulled off a Triple Crown despite little or no protection in the middle of a Dodgers lineup that produced just 82 wins.

The 27-year-old Kemp hit .324 (third in the NL) with 39 home runs and 126 RBI in 2011, leading the NL in home runs, RBI, runs scored (115) and total bases (353).

A 2011 NL All-Star, Kemp also finished among league leaders in multi-hit games (57, tied for first), hits (195, second), slugging percentage (.586, second), extra-base hits (76, second), stolen bases (40, tied for second) and on-base percentage (.399, fourth).

He also became the seventh player in major league history to finish the season ranked in the top three in homers, batting average, RBI and stolen bases in their respective league and the first since Hank Aaron in 1963.

The Dodgers, of course, were put up for sale in early November after Frank McCourt steered the team into bankruptcy following his much-publicized divorce.