TODAY: Kershaw’s MRI didn’t reveal any serious damage, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya (Twitter links) and other reporters. As Roberts put it, this is the “best-case scenario” for Kershaw’s injury, though the southpaw also received an epidural injection in his back. A timetable still isn’t known for Kershaw’s return.
AUGUST 5: The Dodgers announced they’ve placed Clayton Kershaw on the 15-day injured list, citing low back pain. Utilityman Chris Taylor is back from his own IL stint to take the vacated active roster spot. Los Angeles also recalled reliever Reyes Moronta from Triple-A Oklahoma City and optioned outfielder James Outman.
Kershaw lands on the IL for the second time this season. He lost around a month between early May and June with inflammation in his right hip area. The future Hall of Famer returned and went on to make ten more starts before yesterday’s outing. After throwing four innings of two-run ball in an eventual win over the Giants, Kershaw went out to the mound for his warm-up tosses to start the fifth. He pulled himself from the game after experiencing some pain in his lower back, and that issue will apparently keep him out of action for at least the next few weeks.
The team hasn’t provided a timetable on Kershaw’s return, and the announced diagnosis of “low back pain” remains nebulous. They’ll surely be cautious with the 34-year-old, particularly since he’s landed on the injured list at least once in each season since 2016. That included stints for back issues every year between 2016-18. With a 12 1/2 game lead over the Padres in the NL West, the Dodgers can feel comfortable playing things slowly with key players for the final couple months.
While Kershaw no longer takes on the kind of workloads he did during his prime, he’s still among the sport’s best pitchers on a rate basis. Through 85 1/3 innings this season, the three-time Cy Young winner carries a 2.64 ERA with an above-average 26.2% strikeout rate and 48.5% ground-ball percentage. Kershaw’s fastball is sitting in the 90 MPH range, but he owns arguably the game’s best command and hasn’t walked more than 6% of batters faced in a season for a decade.
Kershaw’s trip to the IL leaves Julio Urías, Tony Gonsolin, Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney as the rotation’s top four for the time being. Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove are depth options at Triple-A, and the club seems likely to welcome hard-throwing righty Dustin May back in the not too distant future. Manager Dave Roberts told MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM this afternoon that May is likely to return by the club’s August 19-21 series against the Marlins (Twitter link). The 24-year-old has been out all season recovering from May 2021 Tommy John surgery, but he’s been on a rehab stint since mid-July. Roberts indicated he’s likely to make two more starts in Oklahoma City before returning to the big league club, although he left open the possibility May rejoins the MLB team after just one more Triple-A appearance.
Taylor makes his return to the starting lineup, exactly a month after fracturing his left foot. It’s a quick bounceback for an injury of that magnitude, and Roberts suggested he’ll get the nod at second base tonight. It’ll be Taylor’s first infield appearance of the season, as he’s worked exclusively on the grass this year. Taylor has logged 502 innings in left field, along with 57 and 56 frames in center and right, respectively.
Of course, Taylor made a name for himself with his defensive flexibility in previous seasons. He’s capable of playing virtually everywhere on the diamond other than catcher, and it seems the club is content to get him back onto the infield on occasion. Gavin Lux and Trea Turner make for an excellent middle infield duo, with Max Muncy playing primarily third base as Justin Turner landed on the IL on Tuesday. Taylor will presumably spend the bulk of his time in the outfield still, but the ability to log some action on the dirt will allow Roberts more flexibility in managing infield reps. The 31-year-old will try to get going offensively after his month away, as he carries a .238/.319/.409 line with a huge 35.4% strikeout rate across 285 plate appearances on the year.
Clayton Chokeshaw.
In what manner? He’s done everything there is to do in this sport has made more money than you’ll ever see in your lifetime. So what’s your gripe?
It isn’t necessary to mention salary, but I get your point. Kershaw’s accomplishments are outstanding, and it’s unfortunate his body keeps failing him. He’s a slam dunk HOFer.
Don’t feed the troll, please.
TheOpener or JordanRegina?
@ BRUINBLUW Beat me to it.
he hasn’t won a world series?!?! covid year doesn’t count at all ask anyone.
It’s sad, but look at Bill Buckners’ career, one bad play when it counts & it makes your whole career skeptical.
So dumb!
What’s your gripe about Kershaw? 1st ballot HOF amer WS Winner done just about everything in baseball greatest pitcher of his generation
Haha Kershaw haters are hilarious. Get well soon Ace
Greatest pitcher of his generation? Verlander tells Kershaw to hold his beer and watch this.
You mean the guy who had to go to another team and only win because they cheated? Kershaw laughs at Verlanders lame beer and counters with a wicked curve beer!
Well fast food salesman Clayton Chokeshaw doesn’t have a world series title (2020 doesn’t count and everyone knows it).
I can understand people disliking the Dodgers team, but Clayton Kershaw? Clayton Kershaw has a lifetime 2.49 ERA. Koufax? 2.76. Verlander? 3.26. Clayton Kershaw is going to go down in history as one of the best pitchers of all time. Classy guy, humble, good man. And I am not a Dodger fan.
Fast food promoter, factory farming promoter. He sucks.
You’re a baseball fan. Quite a few posters here aren’t. They come here just to talk smack.
Your mother chokes and gags.
Why do people like the opener post stupid comments? Kershaw is a 1st ballot HOF and a solid person. People like you……. I’m thinking a certain type of canoe!
I still don’t understand the White trade one bit
They must have been super high on Frasso and Brito
Who gets the boot Outman Vargas or Alberto (unlikely) , Vargas looked super impressive in the box and a lot more athletic/fast than he was made out to be
2 words – Ryan Pepiot
White and Pepiot can co -exist No?
White should never have been traded. Kershaw is fragile at this point of his career and so is Heaney. Then you have two starters coming back from injury.
Pepiot may have stuff but doesn’t look like he has much command yet. High pitch counts. Short starts taxes the bullpen.
I’ve heard some really positive things about the prospects we picked up from the Jays. White has pitched well but we have more like him coming through the ranks soon. With a roster crunch coming, Friedman went out and got some younger guys with higher upside. Hopefully we’ll be looking back at this one day down the road talking about the Dodgers fleecing the Jays in this one lol.
All I can think of was this. I know white was very upset when he got sent down. Joe Davis said it and there was an article about it. I wonder if he demanded a trade and they followed his wishes. Just a thought.
One of the top pitchers to ever play the game, stop hating
One of the top regular season pitchers of all time.
Post season too. Except when playing teams that cheat.
Or the Cardinals
@taran: yeah, he looked really good against Soto & Rendon in 2019!
I mean two pitches in a scenario he wasn’t used to?
Sensitive Dodger fans, skip this post:
Here’s a crazy stat: through 105 games, the Dodgers have only played 35 vs 500+ teams. [For comparison, the Yankees have 66 & the Mets 49.]
Unless the Giants somehow turn it around, LA will have an additional 30 games vs sub-500 teams. Obviously they can only play who’s on the schedule, but this is getting silly. Remember when people thought the NL West was the “best” division?
You still have to show up play and win.. and that’s what they’re doing. People just find reasons to hate for no reason
@Misfit: You gotta admit, this stat is kind of shocking.
Honestly the only Stat that matters to me is the record. And they have the best record on the NL regardless of division and off the top of my head 1 or 2 games behind the Yankees for best record overall. So that’s all that I look at
actually dodgers have the best record by 2.5 games over the yankees.
Dodger fan victim complex strikes again!
I’m sure this troll fella has plenty of reasons for hate in his heart…
Id guess they start in the mirror but surely don’t end there
@C&C: ah yes, another mindless reply that goes personal instead of addressing the basic point. It’s a plague…
Nah, my basic point was It must be sad to be you
You think your Dad would be proud you just sit around all day and troll teams on the internet
Getting personal again…deep breaths…
It’s an interesting stat, not “hate”. That’s why he told sensitive LAD fans to not read! Jeez, can’t even handle a fact like this! Absolutely no hate in original post. Quit being so defensive.
Seriously!
If someone Isn’t a dodgers fan 99 percent of the time it will be some kind of hate , but I don’t mind the hate people’s are always hating on what they are jealous of , just facts
I don’t think people are “jealous” of LA; the Dodgers are perennial playoff failures & are famous for choking in the biggest moments. Winning 100+ regular season games every year is impressive, but that’s a consolation prize to what really matters.
@Sidewin- No, it’s not. He does this on every Dodger thread all year long. He’s posted this over 20 times already this year
Has it really been 20 times, C&C? Awfully sweet of you to count, if so. I know I can always rely on the white knights to step in.
Are you complaining about baseball strength of schedules for the #1 team in baseball?
You must be new to this sport,
The NL West is one of the best divisions in MLB, it might be top heavy with LA and SD but that division has some talent and the record to back up their claim to the top.
Is your argument that the Dodgers and NL west suck? I don’t think I understand the point you’re trying to make
@Rusty: First of all, great username. Second, hmm…do you see a link between their MLB-best record & their MLB-easiest strength of schedule? Put on your thinking cap; you can do this!
This is baseball, it’s not football. No one cares about SOS because of how long our season is. If the Dodgers are pretenders, they’ll get exposed. The fact that they’ve been division champs for most of the last decade negates your whole point.
Wrong. Offensive user name
@wifflemeister- Rusty Kuntz played 6 years in the MLB. If his name is offensive then your gripe begins (and ends) with his mama.
Wrong wiffle, and I find your username offensive mine belonged to an actual MLB player, yours is silly nonsense
MY fave was Rusty Greer….but only for the nickname his teammates gave him. Crusty Rear.
Fair point. No one thought the Giants, or even the Rockies would be as bad as they have played to date. Albeit very small sample size, the Dodgers have a winning record against Braves, White Sox, Twins, Padres, and Cardinals – break even with Mets. Losing record against Guardians and Phillies.
@socalbum: Thank you for this balanced response. It’s refreshing!
Pirates, too. 1-5 against Pittsburgh, 71 -28 against everyone else. 😀
This stat is misleading. Were the teams .500 at the time of the game?
Giants go on a 5 game win streak starting today and it will make LA’s record against >.500 skyrocket up. In other words, the reason the Giants are currently a sub .500 team is BECAUSE theyve been thrashed by the Dodgers
There is no substance to this stat
@BRUIN: Well, the Giants have lost 45 *other* games, aside from the 4 series vs LA. So yeah, they’re not good. Obviously these numbers will fluctuate over the course of a season, but — SF is bad.
“There is no substance to this stat” = “I don’t like it when people say icky stuff about my beloved sports team.”
The Giants are 3-10 vs. LA 48-45 against everyone else.
@Fred: So, they’re hovering around 500 in a division that includes Colorado & Arizona? What a gauntlet! SF is not good.
Look at your original post. You talked about teams .500 or >. If if the Giants had never played the Dodgers this season, they would qualify for as a .500 or better team.
But they did play LA, so who cares? Let’s stick to reality, instead of hypotheticals. The Giants are not good.
But they would be considered a good team by you if they never played LA. Do you see how faulty your argument is?
You could do these substitutions w/ any team. The original post reflects what the numbers actually are, today.
Boston would be 49-48 if they didn’t play the Yankees. But they do play the Yankees, because this is real life, & the stat reflects that.
The Giants probably are a good team, but they happen to play the best team in baseball a lot. They were at or over .500 each time they played LA.
Yes, and the stats also show that the Dodgers play .600 ball against teams with >.500 records.
This is irrefutable and not based on a small sample size. Yes, 35 games is about 30% fewer than the Mutts, but its still enough to eliminate luck and random variance as factors.
Everyone look at me, im neoncop i hate the dodgers bc theyre successful unlike myself and i have stats to prove they suck bc strength of schedule (same argument against mlb teams since forever) which means absolutely nothing especially in the wc era but it makes me feel like a smart boy
hey, it’s pguerrero28, perennial victim
Giants are not a good team. The veterans are tired, the defense is poor, and the bullpen is awful. The reason there hovering around .500 is they have very good starting pitching
fred made you look pretty dumb neon. You keep making points and people prove you wrong with facts
@ willie. the dodgers have taken 8 straight from SF, and just beat the pants off SD last night. Yours and neon cop arguments look worse with everyday.
Dodgers aren’t going anywhere. They’re better than every NL team by far and probably the AL too
He did no such thing! I’m sure you’re not biased…
The Dodgers are the kings of the regular season. Is there a prize for being the bridesmaid?
What team do you root for, neon?
and the Yankees won’t get past Houston this year……
Haters are out in full force tonight.
There are 3 lies in this world.
1. Lies
2. Damned lies
3. Statistics.
Is this the Dodgers fault? Are they somehow responsible for playing a relatively soft first-half schedule? Anyway, they’ve still won 60% of those games, just like. the Yankees have.
This really only matters, like, never.
triple post
I know…weird, since i only clicked “Post Comment” once.
Blame the cloven hooves… or the meth!
This is stupid in so many ways. Good teams usually do best again their own divisions. Part of it is that division teams know each other the best and you get a true sample size of who’s best. Dodgers haven’t done as well against the East, partly because they’re 1-5 against the Pirates. Are the Pirates better than the Dodgers? Mets haven’t been very good against the West. What does this all mean?
Dodgers have played the easiest schedule based on opponent winning percentage. Maybe just maybe it’s because they beat most teams they play which give their opponents a lower overall win percentage? So you’re basically making a circular argument. Guess who’s played the second easiest schedule? Yankees. Third? You guessed it, the Astros. Fourth? Mets. See how stupid this is? Inverse of best records. Link below.
https://www.teamrankings.com/mlb/stat/opponent-win-pct-all-games
The Pirates are in the CENTRAL, not the East, so I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make. Seems like you aren’t sure either…
https://www.teamrankings.com/mlb/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other
And guess what, the Dodgers have the best record against 0.500 or better teams.
Dodgers 24-14 0.632; Astros 32-19 0.627; Yankees 40-28 0.588; Mets 28-22 0.560.
The point, once more, is that they don’t play good teams very often…
And to spell it out, it doesn’t matter because all the Dodgers do is win better than any other teams. Your point would have some kind of meaning if the Dodgers had an inferior record against teams over 0.500, but they actually have the best winning percentage against teams over 0.500 out of the top 4. So your point is meaningless.
For the third & final time, the point is that LA has played the easiest schedule in baseball.
This doesn’t mean they’re a bad team, of course. But if you put them in a more legitimate division, their record would be significantly worse.
Isn’t this obvious to you? Imagine them facing ATL, NYM, & PHI 19 times each instead…
Their record would not be significantly worse. That’s the problem with your assumptions. This notion of easier schedules is also vague because the Dodgers don’t play the Mets, Braves and Phillies enough, or any other team outside their division. You’re putting your faith on very small sample sizes. The Mets, Braves and Phillies could also potentially have much worse records if they had to play teams like the Dodgers and Padres more frequently. If the Padres didn’t play the Dodgers their record would be much better, better than the record of the Braves and Phillies. Giants would be an over 0.500 team, etc. Not sure why you’re fixated on all of this outside of Dodger hate. This is out of anybody’s control and outside of playoff implications in getting the top 2 positions from each League, which all four teams (Dodgers, Yankees, Astros, Mets) should be able to, it doesn’t matter much. If they don’t it’s on them. Maybe they weren’t that good to begin with.
Get Kershaw ready for the playoffs! With a huge lead in the NL West, that’s all that really matters right now!
Smart move by the Dodgers, be cautious with him and get the entire team ready for October!
Other teams are praying he’s ready for the playoffs!
Hope he doesn’t miss too much time, great pitcher.
Moronta, woof…guess this is where the “only” 5 options per year new rule shows it’s ugly teeth
It wouldn’t be August baseball without Kershaw and Tatis on the IL.
This coming from a dodgers fan.
Resting for the playoffs. Good decision. Want him 100%.
He took himself out of the game after four innings so I wouldn’t describe this as a decision to rest him.
This place use to be a great place to have a baseball discussion. Trolls have ruined this site.
I agree
“The winter of Collusion” (Machado/Harper) is when I started noticing a turn for the worse in here
Much more {non} baseball talk started becoming the predominate instead of just an annoying backdrop that would seep into some threads
Covid and last years strike certainly didn’t help the direction turn for the better
Even Fangraphs faced a similar water downed product when they brought in Meg from its posters and many left as well
These things are hard to avoid in todays internet world . MLBTR itself, has always been great tho with their articles
That’s rich, cap & crunch criticizing other posts. See above…getting nasty and personal because someone posted something he didn’t like.
But I get it. Folks like you make me feel I am losing iq points every time I read one of your posts…
Neon has posted that post over 20 times this year. Burner maybe ?
@Sideline: These Dodger people take exception to anything that isn’t mindless glowing praise. You see it here, on Twitter, everywhere really.
As with most fan bases, they see themselves as an extension of the team. But unlike most fanbases, they feel personally attacked to such a degree that it borders on psychosis.
I’m convinced a lot of people who post here don’t even like baseball. It’s just another place to trash talk. Sign of the times.
I don’t know about that, but there are certain fanbases that hates on a team more than they like their own.
Agree. Case in point, the Yankee fan on this thread that is trolling the Dodgers. He should worry more about his fading team than hating on the Dodgers.
Maybe, but we see so many random insults that can only be explained by general nastiness. Kind of depressing to see the number of people who think that’s okay now.
I think you are correct Blue Skies
Here’s hoping for quick recovery, the games are better when the best play.
Kershaw’s fastballs currently live around 91-92, with an occasional 93.
Taylor’s return after a month isn’t surprising. At the time of the injury the fracture was described by the team as very small.
and starting at 2B tonight. Love it.
Bad timing to deal White unless they think they have a solution in house. Miller being promoted?
They also passed on all of the available starters, so it seems they were prepared to play a pat hand. We’re going to see how that works out.
The trade had to be because of the value they got in return. If it was just about clearing a 40 man roster spot, there were much more “worthy” players that could have been removed/dropped.
White starts tomorrow. I will be tracking it.
Frasso looks interesting but Brito is still a teenager who hasn’t pitched outside of a handful of innings in the rookie league, so he seems more like a lottery ticket. They needed to get some value for White, he was MLB ready and controllable for many more seasons.
Agreed that they thought it was a great haul for White but now you have a big hole in the rotation and forced to pitch someone like Pepiot who’s not necessarily ready to contribute meaningfully. Now, you’ve got to think about the bullpen pitching 5-6 innings on those games.
They should have known that this was a possibility with Heaney and Kershaw. Miller has electric stuff but if you can’t locate you’re going to walk a lot of batters and get hammered when you put it down the middle. He’ll get his Ks but he doesn’t seem ready yet to contribute.
Too bad Outman had to be the odd man “out”.
True, but’s it’s going to be fun watching the new wave replace the old guards of JTurner/Muncy/Pollock
Love the speed and energy by Lux and Amaya/Outman Ive seen so far
We were getting a tad old and slow in recent years thru out the lineup
90 MPH for a fastball seems very low. How does he have the outstanding ERA he currently has
Well for one thing, that information is wrong (already pointed this out). Kershaw is 91-93 on his fastball. The slider is his go-to pitch now and his ability to locate continues to be his not-so secret weapon.
He averages 90.8mph on his fastball this year. Your range is on the high side. To average 90.8, his range can’t start at 91.
If you’re going to call out something for being wrong, make sure you’re not wrong yourself.
Go Dodgers!
For the season. He started out lower but it is now August. As I said before, currently as in now he’s throwing his fastball in the 91-92 range with an occasional 93, which you can easily see by watching games. Please don’t be one of those random insult guys. If you want to talk about something, talk about it.
And just for the record, I looked up the game logs for the last Kershaw start before he was injured, July 30 against the Rockies. In that game he threw 41 four-seamers. Rounding off the velocity of those pitches to the nearest MPH, here is how they chart:
89 (1)
90 (5)
91 (16)
92 (18)
93 (1)
The median as calculated by a standard method is 91.9. It turns out what I was seeing by eyeball watching Kershaw pitch proves out statistically. So I wasn’t wrong myself.
Yanks2 – over the course of the last 10 years, he has developed an above average slider to help offset his decrease in velocity. He locates the fast ball well to set up the off speed stuff.
The slider has always been Kershaw’s best pitch. The fastball is not fast but when he throws that fastball in the low 90s and slider in upper 80s they overlap and look like the same pitch except for the late break.
Great pitcher in regular season, nothing special in the postseason with an ERA over 4.00. Only time he did well in the post season was on neutral territory at the Rangers ballpark in the 1/3 season “World Series” in 2020.
now would be a good time to start the transition to the bp for CK. he would be certain death coming in to games late in the playoffs.
Where I come from, we have a name for pitchers like Kershaw. They’re called clowns.
Pepiot will most likely be called up. He last started on 7/31, so he’s rested and ready. The Dodgers have a couple off days this week. Seems like it would be a good idea to plug in Pepiot tomorrow or Tuesday and give the rest of the staff an extra day of rest.
#longgame
Yes Yes and Yes to this idea
Just call him up and leave him anywhere for length
Bickford not being able to get 6 outs is expendable currently
hmmm.. I just wonder if Clayton’s head is still Really in the Game?
Never mind.
I am sure Freddie will send him a bouquet of lovely flowers and some soothing ointment for his sore little bottom