Clayton Kershaw Updates, Back Issues Around Camp, and Roster Trimming | This Week in Dodgers Nation

Over the last week to 10 days, the Dodgers have made a bunch of roster moves as they aim to hit 25 active for Opening Day on March 28.

One player added to the team was a sidewinding lefty claimed off waivers from Baltimore. To add him to the 40-man roster, the Dodgers DFA’d, and then released RHP Josh Fields.

The team also twice trimmed the roster as they first optioned and reassigned 5 pitchers, then cut 11 more on Sunday.

Our podcast had guest, and Dodgers analyst Jerry Hairston Jr on to discuss the statuses of Clayton Kershaw, and Corey Seager, plus give us a Lakers postmortem.

The summary was that J Hair feels pretty good about the players recovering from injury.

Dave Roberts still wont rule out Clayton Kershaw making his ninth opening day start, but did appoint Ross Stripling as the next man up in the rotation, if Kershaw is not ready for active duty come opening day.

But the thinking is that the Dodgers should look to slow down with Kershaw.

Doc also spoke on the statuses of two players dealing with nagging back issues.

Seager Saga

Dodgers Nation spoke out on social media when the question was posed “is it more important to have a 100% Seager, or 100% Kershaw?”

Our Clint Evans asked the next question for social media to answer: “Do you think Corey Seager will be in the opening day lineup?”

Dave Roberts later confirmed that Seager will be active on opening day, but stopped short of naming him his opening day shortstop.

MLB News

MLB made some waves as it announced changes to the way lineup cards are handled related to the new gambling deal.

And MLB announced some radical new rules and “enhancements” that would be tested in the Independant Atlantic League this season.

Players Updates

Our Tim Rogers perfectly timed a “I see you” Kiké Hernandez post for a big time display of his game over the weekend.

Cody Love made one fans day at the ballpark.

Tim came back and asked if the Dodgers should consider one of these two free agent pitchers.

Our Blake Williams feels that A.J. Pollock should not be the primary lead off man for the Dodgers in 2019.

Max Muncy chatted about challenges for the upcoming season.

And Baseball America gave us some bold predictions for the 2019 Dodgers.

Baseball games that count will be played in earnest in just over two weeks!