Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Most Valuable Player candidate Matt Kemp and the Los Angeles Dodgers are on the verge of agreeing to a new eight-year, $160 million contract, sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney on Monday.

Both Kemp’s agent, Dave Stewart, and Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti have expressed optimism recently that the sides could come to terms.

Kemp would be eligible for free agency after the 2012 season and would be a hot commodity after leading the NL in home runs (39) and RBIs (126) this past season. He made a run at becoming the majors’ first Triple Crown winner in 44 years before finishing third in the NL in hitting (.324) and also stole 40 bases, leaving him a home run shy of becoming the fifth player in big league history to join the 40/40 club.

Kemp will find out next week whether those numbers are good enough to win the MVP.

In order to come to terms on a new deal, the Dodgers would have to buy Kemp out of his final winter of arbitration eligibility and his first winter of free agency. Through that process, he would stand to get a massive raise off the $7.1 million he earned in 2011, the final season of what originally was a two-year, $10.95 million deal that ballooned to $11.1 million with incentives.

Eight years would be unusual for the Dodgers. During the six years Colletti has been in charge, the team has been loathe to sign players to deals of longer than three years.

WRITTEN BY: Information from ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Tony Jackson was used in this report & FULL STORY HERE