Tag Archives: Clayton Kershaw

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Dodgers Close To Re-Signing Clayton Kershaw

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Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers are nearing an agreement on a one-year deal, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Earlier today, the Dodgers decided against issuing Kershaw a qualifying offer, but it’ll be a moot point anyway now, with the 34-year-old set to return to LA for a 16th season. Mike DiGiovanna adds that the deal will be “close” to the $17MM deal Kershaw signed last winter.

While his days of utter dominance may be behind him, Kershaw turned in another elite season in 2022, throwing 126 1/3 innings of 2.28 ERA ball. For the second-straight season, injuries limited Kershaw to 22 starts, and he made two separate trips to the IL this season with lower back problems. When healthy though, he was very effective posting a 27.8% strikeout rate alongside his usual immaculate walk rates. While his fastball velocity is down considerably since his prime, Kershaw has shown his incredible skill to be able to alter his usage and lean more heavily on his slider to maintain his highly successful numbers as he’s aged.

It’s hard to imagine Kershaw in any other uniform but Dodger blue, and while there’s often been reports of possibly looking to return to his hometown of Dallas and sign for the Rangers, it’s no real surprise to see him staying in LA. By doing so he’ll move closer to ticking off more milestones along his Hall of Fame career. His 12 pitching wins in 2022 take him to 197 in his career, so he’ll certainly notch up win number 200 next season. While pitching wins are largely irrelevant when assessing a player’s ability, it is a notable milestone and one to take a tremendous amount of pride in, and Kershaw will be just the fourth active pitcher to reach 200 behind Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke and Max Scherzer. He’s also 193 strikeouts shy of 3,000. That mark is less likely to be reached in 2023, given Kershaw hasn’t reached 190 in a season since posting 202 in 2017.

The milestones are just reward for a player who has been a mainstay atop some dominant Dodger rotations decade or so. Drafted seventh overall out of high school in 2006, Kershaw would make his Dodgers debut as a 20-year-old in 2008. Just a year later Kershaw would begin a staggering run of dominance in which he’d post ten-straight seasons with a sub-3 ERA. In fact, his rookie year was the only year he posted an ERA over four, and there were only two other seasons where it was over three. It was between 2011-17 that Kershaw was at his absolute best though. During that period he won three Cy Young awards (and never finished outside the top-five), one MVP, led the league in ERA in five times, and posted one 300 strikeout campaign.

The rotation was set to be an area of focus for the Dodgers this winter as Tyler Anderson, Andrew Heaney and Kershaw all headed for free agency, with Anderson the only one to receive a qualifying offer. Kershaw will slot back in alongside Walker Buelher, Julio Urias and Tony Gonsolin to form the core of a very strong rotation. Dustin May, Ryan Pepiot and Mitchell White are all internal candidates to fill out the rotation, but it’s more likely the Dodgers seek another arm to solidify the backend. That decision may well be made for them in fact, as there’s at least a decent chance that Anderson opts to accept the qualifying offer and return to the Dodgers on a one year, $19.65MM deal.

More to come. 



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Dodgers Place Clayton Kershaw On Injured List, Reinstate Chris Taylor

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The Dodgers announced they’ve placed Clayton Kershaw on the 15-day injured list, citing low back pain. Utilityman Chris Taylor is back from his own IL stint to take the vacated active roster spot. Los Angeles also recalled reliever Reyes Moronta from Triple-A Oklahoma City and optioned outfielder James Outman.

Kershaw lands on the IL for the second time this season. He lost around a month between early May and June with inflammation in his right hip area. The future Hall of Famer returned and went on to make ten more starts before yesterday’s outing. After throwing four innings of two-run ball in an eventual win over the Giants, Kershaw went out to the mound for his warm-up tosses to start the fifth. He pulled himself from the game after experiencing some pain in his lower back, and that issue will apparently keep him out of action for at least the next few weeks.

The team hasn’t provided a timetable on Kershaw’s return, and the announced diagnosis of “low back pain” remains nebulous. They’ll surely be cautious with the 34-year-old, particularly since he’s landed on the injured list at least once in each season since 2016. That included stints for back issues every year between 2016-18. With a 12 1/2 game lead over the Padres in the NL West, the Dodgers can feel comfortable playing things slowly with key players for the final couple months.

While Kershaw no longer takes on the kind of workloads he did during his prime, he’s still among the sport’s best pitchers on a rate basis. Through 85 1/3 innings this season, the three-time Cy Young winner carries a 2.64 ERA with an above-average 26.2% strikeout rate and 48.5% ground-ball percentage. Kershaw’s fastball is sitting in the 90 MPH range, but he owns arguably the game’s best command and hasn’t walked more than 6% of batters faced in a season for a decade.

Kershaw’s trip to the IL leaves Julio Urías, Tony Gonsolin, Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney as the rotation’s top four for the time being. Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove are depth options at Triple-A, and the club seems likely to welcome hard-throwing righty Dustin May back in the not too distant future. Manager Dave Roberts told MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM this afternoon that May is likely to return by the club’s August 19-21 series against the Marlins (Twitter link). The 24-year-old has been out all season recovering from May 2021 Tommy John surgery, but he’s been on a rehab stint since mid-July. Roberts indicated he’s likely to make two more starts in Oklahoma City before returning to the big league club, although he left open the possibility May rejoins the MLB team after just one more Triple-A appearance.

Taylor makes his return to the starting lineup, exactly a month after fracturing his left foot. It’s a quick bounceback for an injury of that magnitude, and Roberts suggested he’ll get the nod at second base tonight. It’ll be Taylor’s first infield appearance of the season, as he’s worked exclusively on the grass this year. Taylor has logged 502 innings in left field, along with 57 and 56 frames in center and right, respectively.

Of course, Taylor made a name for himself with his defensive flexibility in previous seasons. He’s capable of playing virtually everywhere on the diamond other than catcher, and it seems the club is content to get him back onto the infield on occasion. Gavin Lux and Trea Turner make for an excellent middle infield duo, with Max Muncy playing primarily third base as Justin Turner landed on the IL on Tuesday. Taylor will presumably spend the bulk of his time in the outfield still, but the ability to log some action on the dirt will allow Roberts more flexibility in managing infield reps. The 31-year-old will try to get going offensively after his month away, as he carries a .238/.319/.409 line with a huge 35.4% strikeout rate across 285 plate appearances on the year.



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Health Notes: Kershaw, Lewis, Barnes

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Clayton Kershaw threw a 30-35 pitch bullpen session this afternoon, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times). It marked the star southpaw’s second bullpen work of the week, as he also tossed 35 pitches on Memorial Day. The team will monitor how Kershaw feels over the coming days, but it’s possible he heads out on a minor league rehab assignment as soon as this weekend.

Kershaw has been on the injured list since May 13 after experiencing some inflammation in the SI joint of his right hip area. The team initially expressed hope he’d be back after a minimal 15-day stint, although that proved untenable once the three-time Cy Young award winner experienced continued soreness. Now that he’s back on a mound and potentially nearing a rehab assignment, however, it seems as if he could be back at Dodger Stadium by the middle of the month. Before the injury, Kershaw had been characteristically excellent, posting a 1.80 ERA through five starts.

Some more health situations of note:

  • The Mariners placed outfielder Kyle Lewis on the seven-day concussion injured list, retroactive to May 29, before tonight’s game against the Orioles. There’s no indication the 26-year-old is in for a long-term absence, but it’s another health setback for a player who has dealt with more than his fair share of injuries. Lewis’ previous issues have typically been related to his right knee, and he only made his season debut on May 24 after he missed the final few months of last season due to a meniscus tear and a bone bruise in the joint. To take Lewis’ spot on the active roster, infielder Abraham Toro is back from the 10-day IL. The switch-hitting Toro is off to a disappointing .179/.237/.366 start through 135 plate appearances. He missed the minimal amount of time on the shelf recovering from a left shoulder sprain.
  • The Red Sox placed reliever Matt Barnes on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 31, before this evening’s contest with the Reds. He’s dealing with inflammation in his throwing shoulder. It’ll be a reset opportunity for Barnes, whose struggles down the stretch last season have carried over into this year. Through 20 games, the right-hander has a 7.94 ERA with nearly as many walks as strikeouts. That’s on the heels of a 6.48 ERA in the second half of 2021, an out-of-the-blue downturn for a pitcher who earned a deserved All-Star nod during a dominant first-half performance. Barnes signed a two-year, $18.75MM extension last July — a deal that looked team-friendly at the time but has gone immediately haywire. To take Barnes’ spot on the roster, fellow reliever Matt Strahm has been reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list following a two-day absence.



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Clayton Kershaw ‘will always have a spot’ with Los Angeles Dodgers, Andrew Friedman says

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CARLSBAD, Calif. — The Los Angeles Dodgers’ decision not to tender a qualifying offer to Clayton Kershaw is not an indication that the team is predisposed to letting him leave.

Quite the opposite, it seems.

“We’ve made it very clear that if Kershaw wants to come back, he will always have a spot,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Tuesday from the site of the general managers meetings.

The Dodgers extended qualifying offers to shortstop Corey Seager and utility man Chris Taylor on Sunday, a method that rewards teams with draft-pick compensation if those players sign elsewhere. Players have until the middle of next week to decide whether to accept the offer, which will pay them $18.4 million for the 2022 season, or reject it. Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner who is arguably the greatest player in Dodgers history, didn’t receive one, largely because of the uncertainty surrounding the health of his left arm.

Kershaw, 33, missed more than two months with elbow/forearm inflammation that popped up around the All-Star break. He returned in the middle of September, but exited his Oct. 1 start with a recurrence of the same issue and was unavailable throughout the postseason. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said then that Kershaw’s ulnar collateral ligament is structurally sound and that he does not require Tommy John surgery, but it seems as though there is still a fear that he could be dealing with a long-term injury.

“I know he wants to take a little time with Ellen [his wife] to figure out what’s best for them, and also more importantly get to a point where he feels good health-wise,” Friedman said. “We have no reason to believe that he won’t. But in his mind, he wants to get to that point, where he feels good from a health standpoint, and go from there. This [the qualifying offer] would have accelerated the timeline in a way that he wasn’t ready for, and I think just from our respect for him, and what he’s done for this organization, that wasn’t something that we wanted to do and put him on that kind of clock when he wasn’t ready for it.”

The Dodgers agreed on a one-year, $8.5 million contract with another left-handed starter, Andrew Heaney, over the weekend, adding him to a 2022 rotation that is currently fronted by Walker Buehler and Julio Urias. Tony Gonsolin and David Price also could be part of the mix, but the Dodgers will express heavy interest in bringing back Max Scherzer and might be in play for other big names in free agency. Trevor Bauer, who remains under criminal investigation over sexual assault allegations, is not expected to return to the team, regardless of the length of a potential suspension by Major League Baseball, though the Dodgers have yet to comment on the matter publicly.

Friedman expressed enthusiasm about the emerging crop of young starting pitchers at the organization’s minor league levels and said his goal in filling out the 2022 rotation is to “bridge the short term, not lock up pitching spots looking out and preventing opportunities.”

Kershaw, who would probably prefer a short-term deal, perfectly fits that strategy — if he’s healthy, if he wants to keep pitching and if his hometown Texas Rangers don’t ultimately sway him.

“We’ve been very outspoken that we really want Kersh to come back,” Friedman said. “Not only what he’s meant to us looking back, but also what we think he will mean for us looking forward. That being said — just like every free agent, but Kersh even a little bit more so — he has earned the right to be in this position and figure out what’s best for him and his family. So there’s like a personal and a professional tug of war for me. Professionally I really hope he’s back, personally I want them to do what makes the most sense for their family, and we’ll figure out what that means.”

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw exits start vs. Milwaukee Brewers early

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Clayton Kershaw exited his final regular-season start early on Friday night, coming out with two outs in the second inning after throwing 42 pitches against the Milwaukee Brewers. A reason for his exit was not immediately provided.

Kershaw, a pending free agent on a team that could potentially end its season in Wednesday’s National League Wild Card Game, received a rousing ovation from the Dodger Stadium crowd on his walk back to the dugout.

Kershaw held on to the baseball rather than hand it off to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts when walking off the mound.

Kershaw, 33, was making his fourth start after missing more than two months because of elbow inflammation. He allowed the same amount of hits as he recorded outs (five) and was charged with three earned runs, allowing five batted balls that traveled faster than 95 mph. His 2021 regular season ends with a 3.55 ERA in 121⅔ innings. The question is what, if anything, he can provide in the postseason.

The Dodgers entered Friday two games behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL West with three games remaining. If they miss out on their ninth consecutive division title, they’ll host the St. Louis Cardinals next week. Max Scherzer would be set to start opposite the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright.

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Dingers on dress-up day — Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated their win over the Colorado Rockies in style

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Did Halloween come early for the Los Angeles Dodgers? Judging by the team’s social media account, it certainly seems like a possibility.

Hours after defeating the Colorado Rockies 7-5 in 10 innings, the team posted festive photos on Twitter.

As a continuation of their annual dress-up day tradition, which was made into a team-wide event after being for rookies until 2019, players appeared in outfits that ranged from slightly nostalgic to downright comedic.

If you’ve missed geometric patterns, then Mookie Betts and Gavin Lux have you covered.

Will Smith’s fit inspired by the Fresh Prince was another nod to 90s fashion. (Will the real Will Smith please stand up?)

Albert Pujols was styling and profiling in his all-black getup, with the cowboy hat to match.

Meanwhile, the biker boys — er, starting rotation — donned their finest denim and sleeveless vests. Who wore it better: Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Walker Buehler or Julio Urias?

Cody Bellinger couldn’t help but crack a smile because his costume was truly out of this world.

On the other hand, Trea Turner channeled his inner “Goose” from Top Gun while Joe Kelly was ready to steal the show, and possibly Christmas, as the Grinch.



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Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw throws 50 pitches in return from IL, allows 1 run with 5 K’s

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Clayton Kershaw recorded 13 outs, allowed only one run and left his Monday start against the Arizona Diamondbacks to a rousing ovation, a fitting end to an encouraging return for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ iconic left-hander.

Kershaw, pitching for the first time since getting shut down with elbow inflammation more than two months ago, recorded five strikeouts and allowed five baserunners in 4⅓ innings at Dodger Stadium.

His fastball averaged a tick below 90 mph, but he generated a combined eight swing-and-misses with his two breaking balls and seemed to get sharper as his outing progressed.

Kershaw, 33 and winding down the final season of his contract, is lined up for at least three more starts this regular season and should be stretched out as a traditional starting pitcher by October, at which point he’ll join Max Scherzer, Walker Buehler and Julio Urias to help make up a devastating postseason rotation (assuming the Dodgers, 2½ games behind the San Francisco Giants, can advance into the National League Division Series).

Kershaw, six days removed from his lone rehab start in the minor leagues, allowed his only run on two hits and a walk in the first inning. He retired 10 of 12 thereafter and exited after throwing his 50th pitch.

The Dodgers beat the Diamondbacks 5-1 for their seventh straight home win.

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Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw calls long absence ‘frustrating,’ expects to start build-up for return

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SAN DIEGO — A fastball-only bullpen session on Tuesday was followed by an aggressive game of catch on Wednesday, which is expected to be followed by a more complete bullpen session on Friday. From there, Clayton Kershaw expects to begin his build-up in hopes of returning to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting rotation.

But he doesn’t know how long that will take or how stretched out he can ultimately get at this juncture in the season.

“Just as long as my elbow doesn’t hurt, we’re in a good spot,” Kershaw said on the field before Wednesday’s game against the Padres at Petco Park. “It’s been frustrating, it’s been a long time, it shouldn’t have taken this long. It’s frustrating on my part. But hopefully I can be around for the fun part and help us in September and October.”

Kershaw hasn’t pitched since July 3 because of inflammation around his left elbow. He admittedly tried to ramp back up too quickly, suffering lingering soreness after a three-inning simulated game a little more than three weeks later and once again shutting it down as a result.

Kershaw, 33, in the final year of his contract, said it’s too early to entertain the possibility of coming back as a reliever because he isn’t built up enough to take on a starter’s workload.

“I’m gonna do whatever is needed or wanted,” Kershaw said. “My focus is to get back to starting, but obviously whatever I can do, I’ll do.”

The Dodgers are currently operating with a four-man rotation that includes Max Scherzer, Walker Buehler, Julio Urias and David Price, the latter of whom had spent most of the season pitching out of the bullpen. Kershaw would ideally join that group and open games, even if he is only stretched out long enough to navigate through an opposing lineup once or twice.

Even without Kershaw — and largely without Mookie Betts — the Dodgers entered Wednesday’s game against the division-rival Padres with 14 wins over their past 16 games. They still trail the San Francisco Giants for first place in the National League West, but the Dodgers’ abundance of talent makes it clear that they will be a force once again in October.

Kershaw badly wants to take part.

Winning a championship last year hasn’t lessened that desire.

“Last year’s last year,” Kershaw said. “We wanna win this year. And especially with the team that we have — there’s not many times in your career that you can have this much talent on one team for a run. And who knows what it’s gonna look like next year and the year after that? You wanna take advantage of that. You wanna do whatever you can to be a part of it. Now, when it’s all set and done and you can look back, ‘Yeah, I won,’ and I can sink my head into that. But for now, I wanna win this year.”

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