Clayton Kershaw’s 2025 Season With Dodgers Could Be Delayed Due to Surgery
Clayton Kershaw doesn’t want to imagine himself wearing another team’s uniform.
When the left-hander appeared on the FOX pregame show before Game 2 on Monday in Los Angeles, he didn’t think he had to clarify where he would be playing when he announced his intentions to return to the mound in 2025.
“I just thought everyone kind of assumed and knew I was coming back. I didn’t really think about it,” he said this week.
Kershaw made it clear that he doesn’t want to play anywhere else.
“I’m going to be a Dodger,” he insisted.
Next season could play out in one of two ways. He could either exercise his player option, or he could decline it, become a free agent, and sign a new deal with the Dodgers.
“I think I’ll just kind of talk to Andrew (Friedman), try to figure all that stuff out,” Kershaw said. “Not exactly sure.”
While Kershaw is hopeful that the Dodgers want him back, he most likely won’t be able to start the season on time if he has surgery on the bone spurs in his toe.
“I think probably more than anything just having surgery last year, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to get the surgery and then only have seven starts,” Kershaw said Tuesday. “It just kind of feels like a waste. Might as well make use of the new shoulder and see how it goes.
“I just want to keep playing.”
A decision hasn’t officially been made regarding his toe. The three-time Cy Young winner said he and the team’s medical staff are “still deciding what to do.”
“It’s not, like, super clear-cut,” he said. “But I think we’re getting a pretty decent plan together in place. Whatever happens, it can wait until after this run here.”
“I don’t know if a full season is in the cards necessarily, but it might be,” he added. “I just, I don’t know yet. Got to figure it out.”
The rest is up to Friedman to figure out but Kershaw says at least one more year is worth it.
Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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