Dodgers’ Andrew Friedman Reflects on Clayton Kershaw Injury Timeline: ‘No Playbook For That’
Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations, said there is no set timeline for Clayton Kershaw’s return given the unconventional injury he is dealing with.
The Los Angeles Dodgers veteran left-hander left the mound on Aug. 30 after dealing with a bone spur on his left big toe.
“He’s still trying to figure out the best way to provide relief [for his toe], and figuring that out is challenging,” Friedman told Mike DiGiovanna of The Los Angeles Times. “There’s not a playbook for that … it’s just not a common [injury].”
The veteran southpaw alerted manager Dave Roberts in the first inning of the rivalry matchup against the Diamondbacks about the pain he felt in his push-off foot. Once he gave up a solo homer to Corbin Carroll, Kershaw was pulled from the game.
“It’s a bone spur. It’s obviously not good. There’s swelling. There’s pain. He’s doing everything he can to kind of get through,” Roberts said postgame. “Some starts it feels fine and it’s not impeding. Today certainly it was. He just — he had nothing. No legs today obviously. Then you start worrying about how it could affect his arm. There was just no other alternative but to take him out of that second inning after the [Corbin] Caroll at-bat. We’re going to see how he comes in tomorrow. We got somebody coming, just potentially if it is an IL situation.”
This isn’t the first stint on the injured list for Kershaw this year. He only returned in late June from a shoulder injury until he was sidelined yet again at the end of August.
Kershaw is just one of the many pitchers in the Dodgers rotation that is now on the injured list. The latest to fall was Gavin Stone who was placed on the 15-day injured list Friday due to shoulder inflammation.
It essentially leaves a Dodgers rotation filled by Jack Flaherty and no one else. Los Angeles fans are anxious to know who will fill the spots of Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Stone, and Kershaw.
Yamamoto is set to return by next week, but he will need several starts to ramp up for the postseason. As for the rest of the slots in the starting rotation, who will the Dodgers depend on to carry them deep into October?
For now, the Dodgers are banking on a rotation featuring Flaherty, Yamamoto, Walker Buehler, Bobbly Miller, Landon Knack, and Justin Wrobleski to get them through September.
Photo Credit: Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports
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I don’t want to see Bobby Miller again. He is shot and has no confidence. I still don’t fully trust Walker Buehler either. Justin Wrobleski does not give any confidence either. Any combination of these pitchers in the post season will result in us losing.