For months, it has been widely anticipated that Clayton Kershaw’s next destination will be one of the Dodgers or Rangers. Buster Olney of ESPN hears (Twitter link) “heavy industry expectation” the three-time Cy Young Award winner will be returning to Los Angeles.
Kershaw has kept his plans for the 2022 season fairly quiet, although at last check, it sounded as if he intended to continue playing. That wasn’t a given at the outset of the offseason, though. The Dodgers made the surprising decision not to issue Kershaw an $18.9MM qualifying offer, and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman suggested that decision was to give the eight-time All-Star more time to mull his future.
I know (Kershaw) wants to take a little time with (his wife) Ellen and figure out what’s best for them and also more importantly, get to a point where he feels good health wise. We have no reason to believe that he won’t,” Friedman said in November. Los Angeles’ lead executive made clear the decision not to tag Kershaw with a QO wasn’t at all motivated by the team not wanting him to return in 2022. “We’ve made it very clear that if Kersh wants to come back, he will always have a spot with what he’s meant to this organization — not just looking back but with what we think he can do for us next year.”
Kershaw has already cemented himself as one of the greatest pitchers in both franchise and major league history. He’s won five ERA titles in Dodger Blue, posting a sub-3.00 mark in eleven of his last thirteen seasons. Last year’s 3.55 figure was his highest since his 2008 rookie season. That that kind of still-impressive run prevention was Kershaw’s worst in thirteen years is remarkable, and his underlying numbers reinforce that he remains a very valuable pitcher.
Last season, Kershaw struck out a lofty 29.5% of batters faced while walking a minuscule 4.3% of opponents. His 16.7% swinging strike rate was a personal best, the number one mark in the league among pitchers with 100+ innings. Kershaw ranked sixth in strikeout/walk rate differential (25.2 percentage points) and fifth in SIERA (3.10). That’s top-of-the-rotation caliber production on a rate basis, although his market has been clouded by a late-season health scare.
The southpaw missed two months between July and September due to inflammation in his elbow/forearm area. He returned to make a few starts but dealt with renewed discomfort in his final regular season outing. That forced him to undergo a season-ending platelet-rich plasma injection, although he avoided surgery and has generally been expected to be a full-go for the start of the upcoming campaign.
Plenty of teams would be in touch with Kershaw’s reps at Excel Sports Management were he shopping his services around the league. However, there’s never been any indication he’s considering signing anywhere other than the Dodgers — with whom he’s spent his entire career — or his hometown Rangers. Texas, which is managed by former Dodgers coach Chris Woodward, has been open about their desire to bring him back to the Dallas area. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News wrote last night that Texas had the payroll flexibility to make a run at both Kershaw and A’s first baseman Matt Olson, two players whom the club apparently regards as special targets. However, it has always seemed that Kershaw’s decision would come down to his preferred fit more than the amount of dollars teams would put on the table.
We all saw that coming; or staying as it is
Too bad. I was hoping the O’s would sign him and Carlos Correa and start building around that young team. Could see a future O’s dynasty.
rumor has it the Dodgers have signed Freeman. any truth to this?
I see a lot of yankees might sign him on the rumor wire…
that’ll be a nice fit too
Yawn, (scratch myself)……Nothing will change
QOing a player doesn’t mean you aren’t giving him “more time to mull his future.”
There’s a time limit to accept or reject a QO so yes, it gives more time to mull his future by letting him mull it over the last couple months.
If he declines the QO he’s free to take as long as he wants to sign with whomever he wants for as much money as they are willing to throw at him.
Good point. The Dodgers had their reasons I suppose.
Yes and the White Sox had their reasons for trading Fernando Tatis Jr. for James Shields. So what’s your point?
Dodgers sign Freeman too.
Mets 1 year 29 million
He was totally going to Oakland and they were giving him a huge contract. /sarcasm
How about… If Kershaw signs with the Rangers I’ll renounce everything and delete my account. But if he signs with anyone else everyone has to stop saying “Player X will sign with team Y because he’s from there/lives there in the offseason/went to college there” FOREVER. That sound fair to you guys?
shut it …gets old bro…player legendary is a goon!
Hey I made them an offer I felt was more than fair.
The amount of respect that the Dodgers FO has for this man is truly remarkable. We all (anyone that knows anything about baseball) knew that giving him a QO would have been done by any other organization. This is a first ballot HOFer if he retired today but still had top of the rotation numbers in a DOWN year. It just makes sense QO him. He wasn’t going to accept it and the Dodgers would have gotten a draft pick had he made the decision to leave. As we all have experienced over the last few months and know, this is a business.
But telling him, take your time, do what is best for you and your family, then come on back to us with YOUR decision. It’s awesome to see. It just doesn’t happen in today’s sports world.
This man means everything to the Dodgers and their fans. Happy to hear that he’s not retiring and even more, I’m looking forward to watching him in Dodger blue, where he belongs.
Respectfully, that is the type of thing that we make fun of people on here for suggesting teams do with other free agents. Declining to extend a QO to a guy who deserves one is about the dumbest thing a GM could possibly do. It’s not respect, it’s negligence.
By the way, extending the QO wouldn’t have stopped him from “taking his time, doing what is best for him and his family, then coming on back to them with HIS decision.”
Respectfully, of course, I’m just choosing to see it the other way and even more importantly, choosing to believe that the Dodgers FO knows something that people on this site, myself included, don’t.
Let anyone try and make fun of this move. The real fact is the Dodgers organization is better run (top to bottom) than any other in all of baseball (besides maybe the Rays) and if they do something, it’s for a reason. Every other organization should take notes.
Not trying to be confrontational and if this is coming off that way, I apologize.
There is no other way to see it. If Kershaw signs with someone else for more $ than the value of the QO then Friedman has to answer to why he threw a free draft pick into the trash. QOing Kershaw wouldn’t have been any more disrespectful than the Braves QOing Freeman, the White Sox QOing Abreu or the Giants QOing Bumgarner.
Friedman has made very few mistakes in his tenure. This is one of them. The Scherzer trade and the Bauer signing are two more.
I would argue that this mistake gets wiped out if Kershaw does in fact, resign with the Dodgers. If he doesn’t, it’s a completely different conversation with questions that Friedman will have to answer. Losing a draft pick, as you said, regardless of who it is, isn’t okay. My earlier point is more of nostalgia and wanting to think that there was something more going on.
I would agree with Bauer being a mistake signing, even if he pitches for the Dodgers again, the money could have been better used elsewhere. Granted, if he does pitch (who knows what’s going to happen with this), and pitch well, it could help this contract look a little better. But still, I think mistake no matter what based on what we already have seen. And a big one at that. Highest (at the time) AAV, it’s crazy.
As for the Scherzer trade, giving up the top 2 prospects in an organization is always a huge gamble. I don’t know of another time that any team has made such a trade midseason. And while I think the trade was fair, not winning the WS and Scherzer then leaving, makes this a bad move. But the Trea Turner aspect is what keeps me thinking that it’s possible to look a little better in the long run. Trea is what allowed the Dodgers to let Seagar walk and if he resigns, and the Dodgers win, I say it will have been worth it. But they do have to win.
Well it looks like he’s staying.
Come to SD …. Preller is great at the swoop swoop
Nothing against the Rangers, but would a first ballot HOF generational talent not want to be a one team for a career guy! There I said it – let the negative comments flow
Not wanting to disappoint anyone, Freeman just signed with the Yankees, Dodgers, Braves, Padres, and Rangers and Angels and Blue Jays and Giants. He’ll be splitting his time amongst the teams. A truly nice guy.
Rolling with laughter – well done!!!
How very boring.
Figured he would stay with Los Karens.
At this stage of his career, does it matter?
Go get him Preller … to teach Gore. Game Changer
Love to see that. Get a guy who is an ace when healthy, have him mentor Gore, steal a face of the franchise from a division rival after they foolishly chose not to QO him and give me yet another example to refer to whenever someone says “Player X will sign with Team Y because he’s from there/lives there in the offseason.” Although I suspect that the real reason the Dodgers didn’t extend the QO is because they know his injury is more serious than has been made public so might end up backfiring.