Reports: Dodgers To Re-Sign Clayton Kershaw
The Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw have had a good thing running the last 16 years.
Why not make it 17?
According to multiple reports Tuesday morning, the most anticipated reunion of the baseball offseason is happening:
Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman of the New York Post were the first to report Tuesday that something might be in the works.
Kershaw has remained a free agent this offseason while he continues to recover from surgery on his left shoulder. Although he was not at the annual DodgerFest gathering at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, he was a frequent topic of conversation.
General manager Brandon Gomes said the door was open for Kershaw to return. Manager Dave Roberts noted that, while he didn’t sense any urgency from Kershaw to sign a contract for the 2024 season, the two had recently exchanged text messages.
Kershaw, who turns 36 in March, was generally excellent when healthy — and sometimes when he wasn’t — in 2023. He finished 13-5 with a 2.46 ERA in 24 starts, and provided stability to a starting rotation depleted by injuries.
On Nov. 3, Kershaw announced on his Instagram account that he had surgery on the glenohumeral ligaments and capsule in his left shoulder. The announcement came as little surprise. A shoulder injury cost him the entire month of July and clearly robbed him of velocity down the stretch. In his only National League Division Series start against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Kershaw allowed six runs while recording only one out in Game 1.
In announcing his surgery, Kershaw said that he was “hopeful” to play “at some point” this summer. In a December interview with AM-570, he said his rehab was going well. He also acknowledged the abrupt end to the 2023 season was motivating him to return.
“I think the competitor in me doesn’t want it to end the way it did,” Kershaw said. “I want to win. I want to win another World Series. I think that all played into it.”
In the past, Kershaw has publicly stated his desire to sign with just two teams: the Dodgers or Texas Rangers. Rumors swirled that Kershaw might choose his hometown club after a recent public appearance at his alma mater, Highland Park High School, with Rangers general manager Chris Young.
However, Kershaw’s track record of success in Los Angeles has few peers in franchise history. He is the team’s all-time leader in Wins Above Replacement, and a surefire Hall of Famer. The Dodgers can practically begin carving a statue of Kershaw alongside those for Jackie Robinson and Sandy Koufax in their center field pavilion.
For now, it seems, they won’t even have to retire his number-22 jersey.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
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Hopefully it’s a 2 year contract to even settle next years questions. Also hopefully the Dodgers can win the World Series this year and start a ongoing multiple seasons of Championships.
Could not agree more. He deserves as do the Dodgers for him to finish his career with one team and one team only. The best way to insure that is for this to be a 2 year contract.
A two-year agreement, with a player option after the first year, makes sense, so that Kersh can hang up his spikes with a championship in 2024 or go one more year if he feels right. No one, Kershaw included, would want that one-inning disaster end his Dodger career.
I anticipate a two-year contract with a player option after the first year–not so he can jump to the Rangers, but so that he can retire if the Dodgers win in 2024.
We can hope that Kershaw will resign but if he doesn’t, fans will still love him as only fans can, and hope he is successful in Texas. But I’d sure like to see him pitching in a 2025 rotation with Ohtani, Bueller, Glasnow, May, and Miller.