Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw Asserts That Teams Around MLB Are Not Trying to Win
It’s not every day that you get a bold statement out of Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers southpaw is generally a reserved personality without an inclination to make any waves in the media. He sort of deviated from that this week.
Kershaw was featured in a piece by the LA Times when Jorge Castillo went to visit him at his home in Dallas. Among many things, Clayton rocked Los Angeles by revealing that he was unsure that he wanted an extension with the Dodgers.
He didn’t stop there. Kershaw went on to talk about getting to play for the Dodgers, and why he believes they are so special. One reason was that he felt the team wanted to win, even after winning a World Series title in 2020. Kershaw said he believes that teams around MLB aren’t always trying to win, and it’s frustrating.
The motivation is the fact that the Dodgers are one of the few teams that are actually trying, you know? Like when you look around the league, we have a great opportunity to win another one. So there’s motivation in that, knowing that I’m very fortunate to be on a team that actually tries to win every single year is pretty cool. Because you see around the league, a lot of these . . . big market teams are not trying to win and trading guys and doing different things and not spending money.
That concern around MLB isn’t something new. The Dodgers ace is just the latest player among many to voice their displeasure with the way teams have approached spending. The word tanking has made its way around the league, and there is reason to believe that it should be a concern moving forward.
Dodgers Related: Doc Fully Anticipates Justin Turner in His Lineup
The hope is that the issue will be addressed at the next round of discussions for the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The current CBA expires after this season, and the league will need to work out a new deal with the union. The good news is that the Dodgers are here to compete, and they proved that with the signing of Trevor Bauer.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, interviews, live streams, and more!
Dodgers: Trevor Bauer Looking to Improve in One Area Heading into 2021
The last contract between the owners and players allowed teams to go for mediocrity. The deal punishes teams for signing another teams players by taking away precious draft choices. The so called Competitive Balance deal aka the Luxury Cap was an attempt for small market teams to compete. What happened is it impacted salaries for players that were not in the top elite percentage. Bauer and LeMahieu get their deals but many players did not get the $ or length of contract expected because the contract stifles competition. The last contract was not a good deal for the players and expect changes proposed for the next contract. I believe there will be a strike. Possibly a lengthy one.
Tmax, what has stifled these teams this off season is the uncertainty of the DH in the NL it will be tough enough for pitchers to ramp up their pitching from a 60 game schedule to now a full 162 and having to bat makes it even worse. But to your point I would bet there would be more teams spending if they knew the DH was going to be in BOTH leagues and not just the NL.
Meant not just the AL.