Clayton Kershaw

Dodgers Notes: Kershaw, Edman, Hernandez, Ohtani

By Nick Deeds | May 17, 2025 at 8:17pm CDT

Longtime face of the Dodgers’ franchise and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw is making his 2025 season debut against the Angels this evening, and ahead of the start of his 18th season in the majors the veteran spoke to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic about his drive to continue his playing career.

“I don’t really understand that question,” Kershaw said, as relayed by Ardaya, when asked why he’s continuing his career. “People ask me that. Why not just ride off into the sunset? I’m 37. I have a long time ahead of me. Baseball is fun. So why not? As of today, that’s my answer, yeah.”

Kershaw, of course, has flirted with the possibility of retirement from time to time over the years. After winning a second World Series championship with the Dodgers last year and being forced to end his season in August due to injuries that eventually required surgery on his left plantar plate and to repair a torn left meniscus over the winter. He’s been rehabbing ever since, and enters this year playing on a one-year deal that guarantees him just $7.5MM, although incentives based on starts made and time on the active roster could bring that total up to $15MM by the end of the season depending on his health.

The southpaw is already a slam-dunk Hall of Famer and one of the greatest pitchers of the 21st century, but there are some career milestones left for him to conquer. For one thing, he’s 32 strikeouts away from being the 20th pitcher in MLB history to reach 3,000 for his career. The 257 1/3 innings he’d still need in order to join the 3,000 innings club isn’t a goal he can reach this season, but after pitching 258 innings total in 2022 and ’23 it’s not hard to imagine him reaching that milestone before his 40th birthday should he decide to continue his career for that long.

One other motivator for Kershaw could be that neither of his World Series rings have come with the full experience: the Dodgers couldn’t hold a parade in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Kershaw was not on the field with his teammates for their championship last year due to injuries. Kershaw confirmed that his inability to participate down the stretch last year was a source of frustration.

“Nobody wants to just sit around,” Kershaw said, as relayed by Ardaya. “I want to pitch, and contribute, and be a part of it. Last year was difficult. Obviously, fun to at least be a part of it and see us win and things like that. You always want to be a part of a great team. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

Dodgers Activate Clayton Kershaw

By Anthony Franco | May 17, 2025 at 5:34pm CDT

May 17: The Dodgers have activated Kershaw, as expected. Right-hander Ryan Loutos was optioned to the minor leagues to make room for Kershaw on the active roster, while southpaw Blake Snell was transferred to the 60-day IL to make room on the 40-man roster. Given that Snell has already been on the shelf for nearly six weeks and has only recently resumed a throwing program, Snell’s transfer is largely a procedural move that does not necessarily indicate a change in his timetable for return.

May 13: Clayton Kershaw will make his season debut against the Angels on Saturday, manager Dave Roberts tells reporters (including David Vassegh of 570 Sports). The Dodgers will need to activate him from the 60-day injured list.

Kershaw opened the season on the 60-day IL as he recovers from offseason surgeries on his left knee and left foot. He has made five minor league rehab starts going back to April 16. He’s combined for a 2.57 ERA across 21 innings. Kershaw reached six innings in an appearance for the team’s complex affiliate on May 6. He threw four frames and 57 pitches during his most recent start for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday.

The future Hall of Famer signed an incentive-laden contract for what will be his 18th MLB season. While he’s only guaranteed $7.5MM, the deal contains $8.5MM in incentives depending on his workload. He’d unlock a $1MM bonus for making his 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th starts. The deal also contains roster bonuses. He’ll collect an additional $2.5MM for reaching 30 days on the active roster, $1MM for 60 days, and $1MM for 90 days.

Kershaw was limited to seven starts last season. He missed the first few months recovering from the shoulder procedure that he’d undergone late in 2023. Bone spurs in his foot sent him back to the injured list at the end of August. Kershaw wasn’t able to return for the World Series run. He finished the year with a 4.50 ERA across 30 innings.

In other Dodger rotation news, Roberts said that Roki Sasaki reported some arm soreness coming out of his start on Friday (via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). The team has not decided whether it’ll require an IL stint. Sasaki has gotten out to a rocky start to his MLB career. He has only completed six innings in one of his first eight outings. He has yet to record more than four strikeouts in a game and carries a 4.72 ERA with very poor strikeout and walk rates.

If Sasaki avoids the IL, Kershaw could push the Dodgers back to a six-man rotation. Injuries to Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow have dropped them to a five-man staff comprising Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Sasaki, and Landon Knack.

Dodgers Notes: Rushing, Sasaki, Snell, Glasnow

By Steve Adams | May 15, 2025 at 9:44am CDT

The Dodgers have gotten top catching prospect Dalton Rushing looks at first base and in the corner outfield to expand his defensive portfolio, but Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports that at least for the time being, Rushing will serve only as a catcher in the majors. The 24-year-old is set to make his MLB debut tonight when catching a bullpen game, and the plan is for him to catch twice a week while also participating in daily game-planning meetings, catching bullpen sessions and serving as a true understudy to veteran backstop Will Smith.

Rushing, the No. 40 overall draft pick in 2022, has torched Triple-A pitching dating back to 2024. He’s tallied 301 plate appearances there and turned in a .289/.409/.512 batting line, taking walks in more than 15% of his plate appearances along the way. Perhaps down the road, Rushing could see time at other positions if his bat again forces the team’s hand, but manager Dave Roberts likened today’s promotion to that of Smith several years ago.

“We did it with Will before his rookie year (when we) brought him up in September to get assimilated with how we do things on the game-planning stuff,” said the skipper. “In one sense, to not take at-bats every day, you could see some downside. But I think that having (him) here in this environment, around our pitchers, around our coaches … I think just net sum was more positive.”

Rushing will likely get the nod behind the dish tonight in a bullpen game that would have gone to right-hander Roki Sasaki were it not for a trip to the 15-day injured list due to a shoulder impingement. ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez writes that Sasaki’s shoulder discomfort began earlier this month. The right-hander himself described the issue as not necessarily painful, but limited mobility in his shoulder. Even in the absence of strict pain, sub-optimal range of motion in the shoulder is an obvious detriment to any pitcher’s ability on the mound.

The onset of the discomfort appears particularly evident when looking at Sasaki’s game log. He averaged 96.4 mph on his heater through his first six starts of the season but sat at 94.8 mph in each of his two most recent turns. His splitter had a similar drop, going from 85.2 mph on average to 84 mph. Even prior to his recent velo dip, Sasaki wasn’t throwing as hard as he did in Japan. Still, the results in those two most recent outings weren’t pretty — eight runs on 11 hits and four walks with only four strikeouts in nine innings pitched — and the Dodgers will now give that ailing shoulder a break.

A firm timetable for Sasaki’s absence isn’t yet established. Gonzalez notes that at least for now, Sasaki isn’t expected to receive any kind of injection to treat the shoulder. He’ll be down for a to-be-determined period, but the Dodgers will be back to a five-man rotation in short order, with Clayton Kershaw’s return set for this weekend.

Also on the mend are top starters Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. Jack Harris of the L.A. Times reports that Snell was throwing in the outfield yesterday and is again moving forward with his throwing program after it was pushed back last week. Gonzalez adds that Glasnow, too, has been cleared to resume throwing. Both former All-Stars will need to progress through several milestones and then head out on a minor league rehab assignment, so a return for either isn’t exactly just around the corner — but it’s nevertheless encouraging to hear that both are trending in the right direction.

Latest On Blake Snell

By Mark Polishuk | May 11, 2025 at 4:12pm CDT

Blake Snell is set to meet with Dodgers team doctors on Monday as the parties try to determine the next step in his recovery from left shoulder soreness. Snell’s shoulder is still bothering him, to the point that plans to resume playing catch earlier this week were put on hold until Snell received a check-up from the medical staff.

Snell has been on the 15-day injured list since April 3, and tests haven’t revealed any structural damage within his throwing shoulder. He did start throwing in mid-April and had one bullpen session, but continued discomfort in his shoulder scrapped plans for another pen session on April 23. MLB.com’s Sonja Chen writes that Snell has received an injection in his shoulder since April 23, though the treatment didn’t appear to do much to solve the issue.

More will be known about Snell’s status once the check-up actually takes place tomorrow, though it can’t be considered a good sign that the two-time Cy Young Award winner has now gone close to three weeks without throwing, and what was initially thought to be a relatively minor shoulder issue has now cost Snell an increasingly big chunk of the 2025 season.

Injuries have long been a subplot of Snell’s career, yet when healthy, Snell has looked like one of the better pitchers in the sport over the last decade. The Dodgers were encouraged enough by this upside to sign Snell to a five-year, $182MM free agent deal this past winter, even though a variety of injuries in the first half of the 2024 season limited him to 104 innings with the Giants last year.

Given this track record, nobody would be surprised if Snell again looks like an ace whenever he returns to the L.A. mound. The fact that Snell hit the IL after just two starts in Dodger Blue is certainly ominous, however, and those concerns won’t dissipate unless Snell gets some good news in tomorrow’s check-up, or (more directly) when he is actually on a clear track to a return to action.

Tyler Glasnow is also set to meet with team doctors tomorrow, though this appears to be something of a final step before the right-hander gets the green light to start a formal rehab process. Glasnow went on the 15-day IL on April 28 due to his own case of shoulder inflammation, and that placement was soon followed by news of a 10-14 day shutdown. That shutdown period is now complete, as manager Dave Roberts told Chen and other reporters that Glasnow is pain-free and started playing catch this weekend.

Assuming tomorrow’s check-up goes well, it will still be a while before Glasnow is back off the IL, as he’ll need time (and probably at least one minor league rehab start) to fully rebuild his arm strength. But especially given the uncertainty surrounding Snell, Glasnow’s return to at least light throwing is a good sign.

Snell and Glasnow are two of a whopping 13 pitchers on the Dodgers’ seemingly ever-crowded injured list, and Shohei Ohtani could technically be considered the 14th given how Ohtani hasn’t pitched since undergoing a UCL-related surgery in September 2023. However, a major name is set to be activated next weekend, as Clayton Kershaw threw what is expected to be his final minor league rehab outing today.

Kershaw tossed 57 pitches over four innings with Triple-A Oklahoma City in today’s start, which was the fourth outing of his rehab stint. Kershaw underwent surgeries on his left plantar plate and a torn left meniscus last November, and began the season on the 60-day injured list as part of that recovery process. Because the Dodgers’ season began earlier than usual due to their series in Tokyo with the Cubs, May 17 represents the first day that Kershaw is eligible to be activated off the 60-day IL. Whether Kershaw is activated on the exact day or the next, the future Hall-of-Famer will make his 2025 debut during next weekend’s series against the Angels.

Once Kershaw is back, Los Angeles will be back up to a five-man rotation that also includes Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Tony Gonsolin, and Dustin May. Since Yamamoto and Sasaki are on once-a-week pitching schedules to emulate their usage in Japan, the Dodgers should still deploy an unofficial six-man staff to make up for those extra starts, with the likes of Landon Knack, Ben Casparius, Justin Wrobleski, or others stepping into spot duty.

Clayton Kershaw To Begin Rehab Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | April 14, 2025 at 6:52pm CDT

Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw will start a rehab assignment on Wednesday. Manager Dave Roberts recently passed the news along to reporters, including Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. That will kick off a 30-day rehab window, which will take him the majority of the way to May 17, when he’s eligible to come off the 60-day injured list.

Kershaw, 37, was once a workhorse but his health has become more of a recurring issue in recent seasons. He hasn’t thrown more than 132 innings in a season since 2019. He only got to 30 frames last year. He started the 2024 season on the injured list recovering from shoulder surgery. He eventually made it back to the mound but his season was finished by surgeries on his toe and knee, to repair a ruptured plantar plate and a torn meniscus.

He was moved to the 60-day IL pretty quickly in 2025 but the timeline is a little bit different for him due to the Dodgers’ schedule. They started their regular season in the middle of March with the Tokyo Series and Kershaw landed on the IL at that time. A player starting the season on the 60-day IL would normally be out until late May but that early start gives Kershaw a chance to come back a bit quicker.

What to expect from Kershaw at this point is anyone’s guess. While he averaged around 95 miles per hour on his fastball at his peak, he’s been down closer to 90 mph in recent seasons. He has still managed to put up some decent numbers despite that, with a 2.46 ERA in 2023. Though he was clearly walking a tightrope and then got pummeled by the Diamondbacks in the playoffs. He had a 4.50 ERA in his limited work last year. With more surgical work on his track record, will that push those trends even further, or could he perhaps turn back the clock a bit with some health?

Whenever Kershaw does return, it’s possible the Dodgers will have to make some tough decisions about their rotation. Currently, they have Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dustin May and Landon Knack in there. Blake Snell recently landed on the IL with some shoulder inflammation but it appears to be a fairly minor issue and he might be back soon. Tony Gonsolin is also on the IL due to back tightness but he is already rehabbing, having thrown 3 1/3 innings in his most recent outing. Then there’s Shohei Ohtani, who is working as the club’s designated hitter but also throwing bullpens on the side as he tries to return to the mound.

As Kershaw, Snell, Gonsolin and Ohtani get back into the mix, the squeeze might be on. Everyone in the group has some kind of health or workload concern, so it would be foolish to expect all of them to be healthy at the same time. Also, Yamamoto and Sasaki are being kept on weekly schedules, as is more common in Japan. That could leave the club some wiggle room to run a six-man rotation, depending on the off-days in the schedule, but someone also might get bumped into a long relief role. Knack, Sasaki and Gonsolin are the only pitchers mentioned here with options, though Gonsolin will hit five years of service time this week, at which point he would have to consent to any optional assignment.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Latest On Clayton Kershaw

By Mark Polishuk | March 29, 2025 at 12:47pm CDT

Clayton Kershaw underwent two surgeries last November, addressing both his left knee (a torn left meniscus) and his left big toe (a ruptured plantar plate). It was known that Kershaw would begin the season on the 60-day injured list and thus be sidelined until late May, but the future Hall-of-Famer shared some updates on his recovery process with Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register and other reporters yesterday.

Today will mark the first time since last season that Kershaw has faced hitters, as he’ll take part in a live batting practice session prior to the Dodgers’ game with the Tigers. This is the latest and most notable step in a slower ramp-up process that Kershaw said was like “going through spring training right now, basically.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s perfect, but definitely getting there,” Kershaw said. “I think overall it’s good progress. I’m not going to be happy until I’m out on the mound. But I think everybody – doctors and training staff – would say I’m doing what I need to be doing.”

Despite this positive view, there isn’t yet a set timeline in place for Kershaw’s return to the L.A. rotation, apart from the loose target date of the first day he is eligible to be activated off the 60-day IL. Kershaw said the plan is to build to game action, with an eye towards being in at least a minor league rehab assignment by the time late May rolls around.

The recovery from toe surgery is the larger issue than the knee surgery, as Kershaw noted that his toe problem relates specifically to his ability to push off the rubber. “There’s been only one or two baseball players that have had this surgery” as well, adding to the fluidity in the recovery process, even if there’s no reason yet why a late May activation wouldn’t be possible.

“It’s just kind of hard to guess when it heals compared to when you feel good enough to push off a mound. Kind of the timeline I’ve said before is kind of what we’ve all decided on,” Kershaw said.

Kershaw signed a one-year deal worth $7.5MM in guaranteed money (with more than twice that amount available in incentives) to return for what will be his 18th season both in the majors and with the Dodgers. He spent last winter also recovering from back surgery, and between that rehab process and then the toe issues that surfaced later in the year, Kershaw played only a limited role in the Dodgers’ championship season. The southpaw posted a 4.50 ERA over a career-low 30 innings, and didn’t see any action in the playoffs.

Los Angeles will eventually be adopting a six-man rotation once its injured starters get healthy, though the sheer number of arms on the roster could make for quite a logjam if everyone is available. Beyond Kershaw, Shohei Ohtani is also expected to make his return to the mound this season, even if Ohtani’s pitching ramp-up is something of a mystery at this point, even as he continues to slug away as the Dodgers’ designated hitter. Tony Gonsolin is another rotation candidate on the mend, and he threw his own live BP session on Friday.

Gonsolin had a Tommy John surgery in late August 2023, and he missed all of last season despite some faint hopes that he might’ve been able to get back to action at the very end of September. This seemingly paved the way for Gonsolin to be fully ready to go for this season’s opener, but he was shelved again on the 15-day IL when he hurt his back while lifting weights this spring.

“I felt like my body was feeling great….And then to have something like that non-baseball-related [injury] really sucked, honestly,” Gonsolin told Plunkett. “I don’t really have any other words for it. But again, it’s a minor setback, and I’ll try to take this time to build back up and get into an even better position.”

Dodgers Select Matt Sauer

By Anthony Franco | March 18, 2025 at 10:41pm CDT

The Dodgers announced they’ve selected reliever Matt Sauer onto the big league roster before Wednesday’s matchup with the Cubs at the Tokyo Dome. They optioned left-hander Justin Wrobleski in a corresponding move. Clayton Kershaw was transferred from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Sauer returns to the majors after signing a minor league deal over the winter. A former second-round pick by the Yankees, he never pitched in the big leagues with New York. The Royals grabbed him in the 2023-24 Rule 5 draft. They carried him on the big league roster for the first couple months. Sauer had a tough time in his first look at major league hitters. He gave up 14 runs across 16 1/3 innings, issuing 11 walks while recording nine strikeouts.

As Kansas City cemented themselves as surprise playoff contenders, they decided they could no longer devote a bullpen spot to a developmental flier. They offered Sauer back to the Yankees in May. New York initially assigned him to Triple-A, but he was blitzed for 15 runs over just 8 1/3 innings in 10 appearances. He found his footing after being demoted to Double-A in July. Sauer closed the year with 24 frames of 2.63 ERA ball before reaching minor league free agency.

The 26-year-old righty took the ball four times this spring. He allowed seven runs over 7 2/3 innings. Sauer recorded eight strikeouts while issuing one walk in that limited sample. His stuff impressed the Dodgers enough that they brought him to Tokyo as part of their travel roster and will carry him on the MLB team for the time being.

Kershaw is rehabbing from surgery to remove a bone spur on his left big toe. He said at the beginning of camp that he would go on the 60-day IL once the Dodgers needed to create a roster spot. He’ll be out through at least the end of May.

Dodgers Add Roki Sasaki To 40-Man Roster

By Anthony Franco | March 17, 2025 at 10:06pm CDT

The Dodgers have finalized their roster in advance of their Opening Day tilt with the Cubs. Los Angeles officially added Roki Sasaki to their 40-man roster. They also selected the contract of veteran reliever Luis García, who had been in camp as a non-roster invitee.

Brusdar Graterol and Michael Grove were placed on the 60-day injured list to create the necessary 40-man openings. Grove underwent season-ending shoulder surgery last week. Graterol is recovering from a labrum procedure in his own shoulder and will not be back until the second half of the season at the earliest.

Los Angeles placed an additional seven pitchers on the 15-day IL: Tony Gonsolin (back tightness), Edgardo Henriquez (left foot fracture), Kyle Hurt (rehabbing Tommy John surgery), Clayton Kershaw (rehabbing toe surgery), Michael Kopech (shoulder impingement), Evan Phillips (rehabbing rotator cuff strain), and Emmet Sheehan (rehabbing Tommy John surgery). With Gavin Stone and River Ryan landing on the 60-day IL during Spring Training, the Dodgers have 11 pitchers beginning the season on the injured list. Each of Kershaw, Sheehan, Hurt and potentially Henriquez figure to land on the 60-day IL eventually.

By and large, these are procedural moves. The only real decision is their call to carry García in the bullpen. The hard-throwing righty inked a minor league deal that came with a $1.5MM base salary if he made the team. He didn’t have a great camp, allowing three runs with a trio of strikeouts across 5 1/3 innings. The Dodgers were nevertheless encouraged enough by his stuff to add him to Dave Roberts’ middle relief group.

García divided his 2024 season between the Angels and Red Sox. The 38-year-old pitched reasonably well for the Halos, working to a 3.71 earned run average through 43 2/3 innings. He posted roughly average strikeout (22%) and walk (7.7%) rates with a strong 51.2% ground-ball percentage. Things went sharply downhill in Boston. García missed a couple weeks late in the season with elbow inflammation. He was tagged for 15 runs across 15 1/3 innings in a Sox uniform. That pushed his season ERA to an unimpressive 4.88 mark through 59 frames.

Sasaki was not previously on the 40-man roster as a quirk of the international amateur system. The same age restriction that capped his signing bonus to a modest $6.5MM also limited him to signing a minor league contract. The Dodgers were never going to send him to Triple-A, of course, but he was technically in Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. Sasaki took the ball twice in exhibition play. He fired seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and three walks.

The touted 23-year-old righty will make his major league debut on Wednesday night in his home country (3:10 a.m. Pacific in the U.S.). He’ll go opposite Justin Steele in the second game of the season. It’ll be a matchup of Japanese-born starters Tuesday night at the Tokyo Dome, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto taking the ball against Shota Imanaga.

Clayton Kershaw Expects To Go On 60-Day IL To Start Season

By Darragh McDonald | February 13, 2025 at 5:15pm CDT

The Dodgers officially re-signed Clayton Kershaw earlier today but it seems he won’t be helping them early in the season. He tells Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic that he expects to be on the 60-day injured list to start the year, likely returning about when those 60 days are up. That suggests he’s targeting a late May return.

Kershaw’s 2025 timeline has never been clear until now. He announced in early November that he would require some surgical work on his lower left leg. Part of that was due to a bone spur in the big toe on his left foot, which sent him to the IL last year. The surgeries would also address a ruptured plantar plate and a torn meniscus in his knee. It was never expressly laid out when Kershaw expected to return, though there’s now at least a vague target.

Players can be placed on the 60-day IL once pitchers and catchers report to spring training, so several players are already there, including Dodgers like Gavin Stone and River Ryan. Kershaw could follow them there but the 60-day count doesn’t begin until Opening Day. IL transactions can be backdated three days, so teams will only put guys on the 60-day if they don’t expect them to be healthy in the first 57 days of the season.

The Dodgers start the schedule a little bit earlier than most teams, as they and the Cubs are facing off in the Tokyo Series this year. Two regular season games between those teams will take place on March 18th and 19th, while the 28 other teams will play their first regular season game March 27.

The update from Kershaw makes the rotation picture a little less crowded in the short term. As of right now, the Dodgers project to have a six-man starting staff consisting of Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin. They will start the season with Shohei Ohtani acting as the designated hitter but not pitching. He didn’t pitch in 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery and also required surgery on his non-throwing shoulder in the fall. He is expected to be back on the mound in May and it seems Kershaw’s timeline is similar.

It’s theoretically possible the Dodgers will have too many rotation options at times this summer. Once Kershaw and Ohtani are back in the mix, they could have eight viable candidates for six spots. Sasaki and Gonsolin are the only two who can be optioned to the minors. It seems highly unlikely Sasaki will be sent down at any point, given that he’s already considered an ace-level talent. Gonsolin is also just 20 days away from five years of MLB service time, at which point he would have the right to refuse being optioned.

However, there are also health concerns all throughout the group, so it seems fair to wonder how often six or more of them will be healthy at any given time. May and Gonsolin missed all of 2024 recovering from surgery. Snell only pitched 104 innings last year and has only hit 130 twice in his career. Yamamoto’s first MLB season saw him spend a lot of time on the IL, only getting to 90 innings. Glasnow set a personal best last year by getting to 134. Sasaki never hit 130 innings in any of his seasons in Japan.

It’s an extreme quality-over-quantity group, so it will be interesting to see if it ever feels truly crowded. If significant injuries pile up, the club also has Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Nick Frasso, Justin Wrobleski and Ben Casparius as optionable guys on the roster who should be in the Triple-A rotation.

For Kershaw personally, he will be looking take on a sizable workload for the first time in a while. It used to be his norm to log about 230 innings in a season but he hasn’t done that since 2015 and he hasn’t hit 132 since 2019. He did get to 131 2/3 in 2023 but was clearly working with diminished stuff and required shoulder surgery in the offseason. He returned from that procedure to make seven starts in July and August of last year but then went back on the IL due to the foot issues and finished the year with just 30 innings pitched.

Missing the first few weeks of 2025 will prevent him from having a massive workload this year but he could certainly go well beyond those 30 frames if things go according to plan. As for what’s beyond that, it seems the future Hall-of-Famer isn’t making any decisions yet. He tells Bob Nightengale of USA Today that he plans to go year to year, as opposed to putting a firm timeline on how many more seasons he plans to play in.

Dodgers Re-Sign Clayton Kershaw

By Darragh McDonald | February 13, 2025 at 1:55pm CDT

Feb. 13: The Dodgers made it official today, announcing that they have signed Kershaw. Right-hander River Ryan, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, was transferred to the 60-day IL in a corresponding move.

Kershaw is guaranteed $7.5MM on a one-year deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. He’ll unlock a $1MM bonus for making his 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th starts of the season. The deal also contains active roster bonuses; he’ll add an additional $2.5MM for 30 days on the active roster, $1MM for 60 days and $1MM for 90 days.

In all, that $7.5MM base can more than double to $16MM so long as Kershaw starts at least 16 games and stays healthy for about half the season.

Feb. 11: The Dodgers and left-hander Clayton Kershaw have agreed to terms on a new deal, reports Alden González of ESPN. It was previously relayed by Dylan Hernández of the Los Angeles Times that the lefty is in camp with the club. The deal isn’t official yet because the Excel Sports Management client still has to undergo a physical. The details of the new agreement aren’t yet publicly known. The Dodgers will need to open a 40-man spot but have several candidates to be moved to the 60-day injured list.

The move doesn’t come as a surprise at all. The future Hall-of-Famer has spent his entire career with the Dodgers to this point. He has gone into free agency multiple times and always re-signed. There has occasionally been some thought that he would like to join the Rangers, since he’s from the Dallas area, but that’s never come to fruition. On the heels of the Dodgers winning the most recent World Series, he declared himself a “Dodger for life.”

Kershaw, 37 in March, did turn down a $10MM player option for the 2025 season. Still, that seemed to be more of a formality, based on the strong relationship between him and the franchise. Even though he walked away from that money, the industry expectation has been that the two sides would reunite on some kind of new deal. As recently has a few weeks ago, it was reported that the two sides were interested in a reunion.

His current health situation is unknown. In early November, when he made the “Dodger for life” comment, Kershaw also relayed some details of upcoming surgeries. He told reporters at that time that he was to have work done on both his left toe and his left knee. He had dealt with bone spurs in his big toe during the season and also revealed after the campaign that he had a torn meniscus and a ruptured plantar plate that needed to be addressed.

It’s possible that his new deal will come with various incentives based on his output, as was the case the last time he re-signed with the Dodgers. He had surgery going into last winter and wasn’t expected to come back until midway through the 2024 schedule. He signed a deal with a modest $10MM guarantee over 2024 and 2025, with the latter year being a player option. Based on his 2024 appearances, he could earn an extra $7.5MM in 2024, as well as potentially bumping the $5MM option as high as $20MM. There were also incentives based on his 2025 appearances that could have allowed him to earn as much as $25MM on the year.

Kershaw only ended up throwing 30 innings over seven starts last year, allowing 4.50 earned runs per nine. He started the season on the IL while still recovering from that shoulder surgery, getting reinstated in late July. But he was back on the IL by the end of August due to his toe issues and finished the season there. That wasn’t a huge showing but it was enough to get the base of his player option up to $10MM. Though he went back under the knife for his lower body injuries, he still felt comfortable enough turning that down, though he and the club will surely figure out some new arrangement that works for both.

Though it’s not a surprise to see Kershaw back with the club, there’s still some mystery about what’s next. As mentioned, it’s unclear if he’s fully healthy now or if he’s still working his way back from his most recent procedure.

On paper, the Dodgers have a robust collection of rotation options. They currently have Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow taking up four spots. Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May should be in the mix as well. Shohei Ohtani isn’t expected to be ready by Opening Day but could be back on the hill in May.

The club seems likely to run a six-man rotation. That’s partially due to Sasaki making the move from Japan, where starting pitchers only throw once a week. On top of that, basically everyone else in their pile of starters has workload concerns. Snell only got to 104 innings last year and has only twice gone beyond 130. Yamamoto spent a decent chunk of 2024 on the IL and only got to 90 frames. Glasnow got to 134, which was a career high for him. May, Gonsolin and Ohtani were recovering from respective surgeries, with no one of that trio pitching last year.

Throw Kershaw into the mix and its eight starters for six spots, before even mentioning pitchers like Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Nick Frasso, Justin Wrobleski and Ben Casparius, who all have options and are likely to be in the minors as depth.

Given all the health question marks throughout the group, it’s unlikely to expect everyone to be healthy for the entire season, but there may be times where players get squeezed. Moving to the bullpen isn’t easy either, as the club is a bit squeezed there as well. With a six-man rotation, the club can only have seven relievers, given the 13-pitcher roster limit. Ohtani counts as a two-way player and will eventually allow them to have 14 pitchers, but he won’t be pitching to start the year.

The bullpen chart currently includes Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen, Michael Kopech, Anthony Banda and Alex Vesia. No one in that group can be optioned except for Vesia, who had a 1.76 ERA last year. The bullpen is tight enough that Ryan Brasier recently got designated for assignment and flipped to the Cubs.

Time will tell how the Dodgers balance the juggling act, though the pressure on the 40-man roster is about to ease. Now that they have opened camp, they are allowed to transfer players to the 60-day injured list. Each of Emmet Sheehan, Brusdar Graterol, Kyle Hurt and River Ryan are likely bound for the IL soon, with each recovering from a significant surgery. The Dodgers will need a roster spot for Kershaw once this becomes official, but that will still leave them with three roster spots to play with.

Financially, RosterResource has the Dodgers at a $383MM payroll and $386MM competitive balance tax figure. Those are both franchise records and tops in the league by wide margins, but the club seems to have few limits right now. They have international star power from Ohtani and various other players on the roster, with a decade-plus run of postseason appearances, in addition to being reigning world champions. The cash flow situation seems to be incredibly healthy, with the ownership group willing to pump a lot of that money back into the roster.

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