Dodgers Team News

Dodgers News: Andrew Friedman Touches on Clayton Kershaw’s Future in LA

As the clubhouse celebration died down on Tuesday night, Dodger insider David Vassegh caught up with president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, the architect of the best team in baseball.

Vassegh asked Friedman about Clayton Kershaw, who threw seven shutout innings in the clinching game and has a 2.44 ERA this year after an offseason of questions about whether he would return to Los Angeles.



It’s a little throwaway phrase there in the middle, “hopefully continue for as long as he plays.” Friedman is saying what we all believe: Clayton Kershaw should never wear a big-league uniform that isn’t the Dodgers.

Dave Roberts told Kirsten Watson after the game, “When you think of the Dodgers, you think of Clayton Kershaw.” If you go to Baseball-Reference’s Dodgers franchise page, you see photos of legends, heroes, and Hall of Famers, but the first photo you see is Clayton Kershaw.

Dodgers Top 24 Players by WAR. Source: Baseball-Reference.com

Kershaw’s quantity has been down this year; two separate injured list stints have limited him to 103.1 innings pitched. But the quality has been outstanding, with a 2.44 ERA that would fit just fine in his peak seasons. And if he can remain healthy for another two months, he has a chance to bring home a second World Series title in the past three years.

After that, the future is cloudy. Kershaw will be a free agent again after this season, and the siren song of playing close to home with the Rangers will always be there. But let’s face it: Kershaw isn’t going to the Rangers. Kershaw has known almost nothing but winning in his 15-year career; he’s not going to spend his twilight years with an organization that spent a gazillion dollars only to be terrible and fire their manager and team president this season.

Clayton Kershaw should be a Dodger for life. We know it, Friedman knows it, and Kershaw knows it.

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Jeff Snider

Jeff was born into a Dodgers family in Southern California and is now raising a Dodgers family of his own in Utah. During his previous career as an executive at a technology company, he began writing about baseball in his spare time. After leaving corporate America in 2014, he started doing it professionally. Jeff wrote and edited for Baseball Essential for years before joining Dodgers Nation. He's also the co-host of the Locked On Dodgers podcast, a daily podcast that brings the smart fan's perspective on our Boys in Blue. Jeff has a degree in English from Brigham Young University. Favorite Player: Clayton Kershaw Favorite Moment: Kirk Gibson's homer will always have a place, but Kershaw's homer on Opening Day 2013 might be the winner.

6 Comments

  1. He WILL be gone after this year. I appreciate everything that he has done, but he continues to get injured. It’s not worth the risk of signing an injury prone player.

  2. I hope Kershaw never plays for another team but if he decides to play past this year I also don’t think it’s very wise for the Dodgers to sign him since he is injury prone now and not durable enough to rely on for a complete season.

  3. Someone needs to convince Freidman that Kimbrel will prevent the Dodgers from even getting to the WS.

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