Ian Kennedy signs multi-year deal with the Royals

The last time we really heard about Ian Kennedy was back in November, when he turned down the Padres' qualifying offer (QO) and became a free agent. Now we know where lies his future, and it is not in San Diego.

According to several reports this morning, Kennedy has reached a deal with the Kansas City Royals. Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal tells us the deal is worth $70 million over five years and includes an opt-out clause after two years.

The 31-year-old right-hander racked up a career-high 15 losses in 2015, his third season with the Padres. Overall he went 9-15 with a 4.28 ERA and 1.295 WHIP in 30 starts. He also gave up a troubling career-high 31 home runs last year despite making his home at Petco Park.

Since Kennedy rejected the QO a couple months ago and he has now signed with another team, the Padres get a compensatory draft pick. As MLB.com's Corey Brock tells us, that gives them five out of the top 84 picks in the 2016 Draft (this latest pick being the 26th overall). They're likely to get a sixth pick within the top 100 when Justin Upton, who also rejected the team's QO in November, finds his landing spot.

The Padres won't meet the Royals during the regular season in 2016, but will play Spring Training games against them on March 3rd and March 24th.

Ian Kennedy gets 5 years from KC partly b/c KC knows FA classes very weak next 2 years;won't have access to a P like him in seller's market.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) January 16, 2016