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Clayton Kershaw

Rosenthal’s Latest: Nats, Kershaw, Brewers, Rangers, BoSox

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In an ideal world, the Nationals would like to acquire a right-handed hitter before the Aug. 1 trade deadline, but they’re considering pursuing Reds left-handed slugger Jay Bruce, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (video links). Bruce, who has hit .275/.319/.557 with 17 home runs in 313 plate appearances this year, could be a possibility in the outfield or at first base for the Nationals – to whom he can’t block a trade. Bruce is also familiar with Nationals manager Dusty Baker from the skipper’s time in Cincinnati, notes Rosenthal, who adds that the team recalling highly touted prospect Trea Turner to play center field is also an option.

Here’s more inside information from Rosenthal:

  • The back issue that sent the best pitcher in baseball, Dodgers southpaw Clayton Kershaw, to the disabled list Friday will likely keep him out for at least a month. LA now has solid reinforcements in its rotation in newly acquired righty Bud Norris – who had a terrific debut with the team Friday – and returning 2015 Tommy John surgery recipient Brandon McCarthy, though no one would confuse either with Kershaw. Prior to landing on the DL, Kershaw threw the second-most innings in the majors (121), led the league in ERA (1.79), and was on track to set the single-season K/BB ratio record for a starter with a ridiculous 16.11 mark. Not only will Kershaw’s absence hurt the playoff-contending Dodgers, who currently sit in a Wild Card position, but it could also damage his NL MVP chances.
  • With a slew of trade candidates in catcher Jonathan Lucroy, left fielder Ryan Braun, infielder Aaron Hill, relievers Jeremy Jeffress and Will Smith, and their young starters, the Brewers are a team to watch as the deadline nears. Teams have inquired about Lucroy – who’s the most appealing asset of the bunch – though talks haven’t gotten serious to this point.
  • Athletics left-hander Rich Hill could be the most realistic starting pitcher trade target around the deadline for the Red Sox. The 36-year-old spent some of last season in Boston, where he shockingly pitched like an an ace in September before parlaying that four-start run into a $6MM contract with the A’s in the offseason. Hill has also been outstanding in Oakland (2.25 ERA, 10.41 K/9, 48.1 percent ground-ball rate in 64 innings), though he hasn’t started since May 29 because of a groin injury. He’s now off the disabled list in time to become relevant for the deadline, though.
  • The Rangers had discussions with the Padres about right-handed reliever Fernando Rodney before San Diego traded him to Miami, but Rosenthal opines that Texas needs a left-handed bullpen option more. In addition to their interest in relievers, the Rangers are also in the market for a young, high-end starter and would be willing to part with just about anyone on their roster if the right deal came along.
  • Speaking of Rodney, his contract includes $3.25MM in incentives for games finished and a $2MM club option for 2017 that will increase in value based on the bonuses he receives, so the Marlins will save money by continuing to use him in a setup role.
  • There’s interest around the league in Angels lefty Hector Santiago, including from the division-rival Astros, tweets Rosenthal. The Halos aren’t inclined to deal Santiago for an underwhelming return, notes Rosenthal, as the $5MM man has another year of arbitration eligibility remaining. Team control aside, with a 5.15 ERA, 5.38 FIP and 5.02 xFIP in 87 1/3 innings this season, Santiago hasn’t exactly made a case that he’d be worth a quality haul in a trade.

Dodgers Place Kershaw, Pederson On DL; Designate Layne Somsen

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The Dodgers announced a series of moves today, brought about by injuries to Clayton Kershaw and Joc Pederson. It had been expected already that Kershaw would hit the DL with a back issue, though Pederson’s outlook wasn’t yet clear since his recent shoulder injury.

Replacing that duo will be newly-acquired righty Bud Norris and outfielder Will Venable. Norris came over via trade just yesterday, while Venable had previously been outrighted after signing with the team as a free agent.

Venable’s addition required a 40-man spot, and Somsen took the fall. He has now resided in DFA limbo on three separate occasions this year, with organizations clearly enamored of the arm but finding it hard to keep him on their big league rosters.

[Related: Updated Dodgers Depth Chart]

It goes without saying, but both Kershaw and Pederson are of critical importance to Los Angeles. In the case of the former, manager Dave Roberts said today that a timeline remains unclear (via MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM; Twitter link). The skipper says that Kershaw will likely to be out for more than the 15-day minimum.

Pederson, meanwhile, has been diagnosed with a sprained A/C joint, as Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times tweets. It’s not yet clear how long he’s expected to miss, but obviously he’ll now be down for at least the next two weeks.

Dodgers To Place Clayton Kershaw On Disabled List

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4:47pm: Kershaw has been diagnosed with a “mild disc herniation” in his back, the team announced. He is not expected to require surgery, per the announcement, but his recovery timeline remains unclear.

11:23am: Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw received an epidural injection to treat his ailing lower back yesterday and will be placed on the 15-day disabled list, manager Dave Roberts told reporters, including Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times (Twitter link). He adds that the team is hopeful that Kershaw will be ready to be activated following the All-Star break, though MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets that Roberts said he’s uncertain if Kershaw would be ready after the minimum 15 days. There hasn’t been a decision made regarding the starter for Friday’s game, when Kershaw was scheduled to take the hill.

[Related: Updated Los Angeles Dodgers depth chart]

For the Dodgers, Kershaw is the latest in a deluge of injuries that have contributed to the team’s second-place positioning behind the division-leading Giants. Kershaw will join fellow starters Brett Anderson, Brandon McCarthy, Hyun-jin Ryu and Alex Wood on the disabled list. On the position-player side of the equation, the Dodgers are currently without Andre Ethier and Enrique Hernandez, and there’s a possibility of Joc Pederson landing on the DL as well following a collision with the outfield wall on Monday night that has left his shoulder with extremely limited mobility.

Kershaw is in the midst of a historic season, having worked to a 1.79 ERA, 10.8 K/9, 0.7 BB/9 and a 49.8 percent ground-ball rate through an MLB-best 121 innings thus far. He’s on pace to shatter Phil Hughes’ MLB record for strikeout-to-walk ratio (11.63), having posted an otherworldly 16.1 K/BB ratio to this point. Kershaw appeared to be a lock to start the 2016 All-Star Game in San Diego, but this injury obviously takes that honor off the table.

From a broader perspective, the injury to Kershaw merely underscores the Dodgers’ need for pitching help. Without Kershaw atop the starting five, Los Angeles is looking at a rotation consisting of Scott Kazmir, Kenta Maeda, Julio Urias, Brock Stewart and a yet-undetermined fifth starter. (Mike Bolsinger and Carlos Frias stand out as possible internal options.) That group will be thinned even further following the All-Star break, as the expectation is that Urias will be shut down for a time in order to avoid a significant increase from last year’s limited 80 1/3 inning workload.

The Dodgers have already seemed like a probably candidate to pursue rotation upgrades on the trade market, with Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports connecting them just yesterday to Rays right-hander Erasmo Ramirez. A three-start absence for Kershaw (the best-case scenario) doesn’t necessarily mean that the Dodgers need to target an ace-caliber pitcher to insert into the top of their rotation, but it could certainly hasten the front office’s efforts to add a reliable option for the back end of the starting mix.

Injury Notes: Kershaw, Strasburg, Colome, Floyd, Morneau, Rangers

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Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is heading back to Los Angeles to meet with a specialist (Dr. Robert Watkins) about his ailing back, as MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick writes. Kershaw experienced some soreness in his back following Sunday’s loss, and manager Dave Roberts told the media that Kershaw’s lower back has been somewhat of an issue for the past few weeks. Roberts said the team is still optimistic that Kershaw will make his upcoming start on Friday, though that can’t be certain until he undergoes further examination. Kershaw is in the midst of arguably his best season ever, having recorded a 1.79 ERA, 10.8 K/9, 0.7 BB/9 and a 49.8 percent ground-ball rate through an MLB-best 121 innings thus far.

A few more injury items from around the league…

  • An MRI of Stephen Strasburg’s back revealed “nothing serious,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker told reporters, including Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post (Twitter link). While the Nats have yet to receive an official diagnosis on the injury, Baker said the initial results have made the organization feel better about the injury that landed Strasburg on the 15-day disabled list this weekend. There’s no word on exactly how long Strasburg will be out, but the lack of a serious injury suggests that it could be a fairly brief stay on the DL.
  • The Rays have placed closer Alex Colome on the 15-day disabled list with what has been diagnosed as medial right biceps tendinitis, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. That’s the second closer on the disabled list for Tampa Bay, though Colome’s absence from team looks like it will be considerably shorter than that of fellow closer Brad Boxberger. Topkin writes that Colome’s DL stint is retroactive to June 19, and the right-hander is hoping to return to action as soon as he is eligible on Monday of next week.
  • Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reports that the Blue Jays will be without right-hander Gavin Floyd for a prolonged period of time, as Floyd has been diagnosed with a tear in his right lat muscle (Twitter link). Floyd hasn’t been dominant for the Jays this season, but he’s turned in 31 innings of 4.06 ERA ball and averaged 8.7 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 with a 42.2 percent ground-ball rate out of the Toronto bullpen. The extent of the tear and the projected length of his absence are not yet known.
  • Justin Morneau feels that he can be ready to join the White Sox after about 30 at-bats on a minor league rehab assignment, he tells Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago (Twitter link). Levine estimates that Morneau will be ready to join the big league roster around July 15. Morneau tells the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Mike Berardino (Twitter link) that he’s hoping to begin a rehab assignment next week and be in uniform with the Sox soon after the All-Star break. Chicago signed Morneau to a one-year contract earlier this month.
  • Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News provides updates on several injured Rangers. Per Grant, Yu Darvish will face hitters in a simulated game tomorrow, as will right-hander Keone Kela, who has missed the majority of the season after undergoing surgery to remove a bone spur from his elbow earlier this year. Beyond that, Grant adds that Derek Holland isn’t traveling with the team on this road trip and isn’t likely to pitch before the All-Star break. Kela is a bit over two months into his projected three-month recovery timeline, and his eventual return could be a boon for a Rangers bullpen that has seen its share of struggles in 2016.

NL Notes: Gray, Dodgers, Reds

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Rockies righty Jon Gray has an abdominal strain, writes Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. “He felt something,” said manager Walt Weiss after the Rockies’ Cactus League game Tuesday. “We don’t know the extent of it. … We are always going to use caution in a situation like that.” The team does not know when Gray will return. Gray, the Rockies’ top pick in 2013, was ticketed for a spot in the rotation. David Hale, Christian Bergman or Chris Rusin could take his place, although Rusin hasn’t yet pitched this spring due to inflammation in his finger. Here’s more from the National League.

  • By setting their sights on the future, the Dodgers stand to waste what could be their last three years with Clayton Kershaw, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times writes. Kershaw is signed through 2020 but can opt out of his deal after 2018. This offseason, the Dodgers allowed Zack Greinke to depart for Arizona via a similar opt-out clause, and their rotation is now a jumble due to a variety of injuries to pitchers like Brett Anderson, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Brandon McCarthy and Mike Bolsinger. (The Dodgers say they are planning on improving this season by getting better performances from players they already controlled, like Yasiel Puig.) If the Dodgers don’t build contending teams around Kershaw, Hernandez warns, he could depart just as Greinke did. Kershaw’s own take on this issue is less heated than Hernandez’s, however. “I can only speak for what’s happened since I’ve been here, and every single year I feel we’ve had the chance to win,” he says. “That’s really, as a player, all you can ask for.”
  • With less than two weeks to go before Opening Day, the Reds still have plenty of open spots in their bullpen, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon writes. J.J. Hoover will serve as the team’s closer, but what happens after that is unknown. Tony Cingrani, Caleb Cotham, Dayan Diaz, Jumbo Diaz, Drew Hayes, Ryan Mattheus, Chris O’Grady, J.C. Ramirez, Keyvius Sampson, Pedro Villarreal and Blake Wood are all battling for spots. (One would think, though, that some of those, like Cingrani and Jumbo Diaz, would be more likely than others.) From that group, O’Grady is worth watching, since he’s a Rule 5 draftee who the Reds are likely to lose if he doesn’t make the team. Another Rule 5 pick, outfielder Jake Cave, is battling for a spot on the bench, and one of his competitors is Yorman Rodriguez, who’s out of options.

Dodgers Notes: Friedman, Urias, De Leon, Holmes

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Dodgers president Andrew Friedman has made sweeping changes throughout the organization, writes Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. Now that former manager Don Mattingly has stepped down, Friedman will have the opportunity to remake the major league coaching staff too. Today’s managers must serve as a conduit between analytical front offices and the players. Friedman plans to make a hire by the Winter Meetings in two months. Presently, the top rumored candidates are Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez (a former Friedman employee), former Padres manager Bud Black, and Dodgers personnel Gabe Kapler, Tim Wallach, and Ron Roenicke. Of course, other candidates could enter the fray too.

Here’s more from the Dodgers:

  • Los Angeles has not developed a meaningful starting pitcher since Clayton Kershaw, writes Shaikin in a separate column. GM Farhan Zaidi claims the club will get younger, but the drafts since Kershaw have not been kind. They’ve made 12 first round picks since Kershaw was selected, and 10 of them have been pitchers. It’s telling that Corey Seager has produced more WAR than all of them in just one month of play. As the Mets demonstrate, a deep, young rotation can bring you a long way. With the Dodgers massive resources, the next step is to develop better pitching.
  • Pitching reinforcements won’t arrive by the start of 2016, per Shaikin. That will force the club to spend big to re-sign Zack Greinke or acquire another top arm. However, prospects Julio Urias, 19, Jose De Leon, 23, and Grant Holmes, 19, all show promise and could move quickly. Urias is the most recognizable of the trio. He has appeared numerous times here on MLBTR. De Leon also came up in deadline rumors, particularly for Cole Hamels. Holmes, the club’s first round pick in 2014, may be slightly less visible than the other two. However, prior to the season, FanGraphs’ Kiley McDaniel rated him as the fourth best prospect in the system – ahead of De Leon (seventh ranked).

Heyman’s Latest: Ng, Ziegler, Wieters, Arrieta, Angels, Kershaw, Gordon, Aoki

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Kim Ng, the senior vice president of baseball operations at MLB’s central offices, will interview for the Phillies’ GM vacancy, writes Jon Heyman of CBS Sports in his latest Inside Baseball column. Ng, who has previously interviewed with the Dodgers, Angels, Mariners and Padres, still hopes to become the first female general manager of a team. (She has previously worked in several front offices as well.) Her pursuit of the Phillies’ job brings up the issue of diversity among front office execs and managers, Heyman notes, and commissioner Rob Manfred discussed with Heyman some steps the league could take to increase the hiring of minority candidates for such roles. Manfred places a good deal of blame on his own office, telling Heyman, “I am concerned that we at Central Baseball have to do a better job.” Manfred emphasized a need to better prepare minority candidates and to encourage the hiring of such candidates for entry-level positions, so as to deepen the pool of minority candidates from which MLB clubs can select.

Some highlights from Heyman’s weekly piece…

  • The Diamondbacks plan to exercise Brad Ziegler’s $5.5MM option — an expected outcome considering questions throughout the team’s bullpen and the strong numbers that the side-arming Ziegler posted this season. Arizona will focus on adding starting pitching this offseason, though young arms Robbie Ray and Rubby De La Rosa have positioned themselves well to join Patrick Corbin in the rotation.
  • The Braves will be eyeing pitching upgrades and catching help this winter, and re-signing A.J. Pierzynski will be one option. Heyman also lists a run at Georgia native Matt Wieters as a possibility. I’d expect Wieters to receive and reject a qualifying offer, though Heyman notes that no decision has been made on Wieters’ QO situation just yet.
  • The Cubs are expected to pursue top starting pitchers such as David Price and Jordan Zimmermann, but they’ll also attempt to work out a long-term deal with Jake Arrieta, whose dominant second half and Wild Card performance have thrust him into the national spotlight. As a Scott Boras client, however, it could be difficult for the two sides to come to any sort of agreement. Arrieta is controlled through 2017.
  • A big left-handed bat will be a priority for the Angels this winter, and they’ll be hoping to add at second base and third base, specifically. As for David Murphy’s $7MM club option, Heyman notes that the team might want to put those resources toward a more impactful bat.
  • Clayton Kershaw turned down a $300MM contract offer a few months before signing his seven-year, $215MM extension that featured an opt-out clause after the fifth season, per Heyman. While that’s a shocking number to reject, we also don’t know the length of said deal or the amount of deferred money it contained. Sticking with the Dodgers, the CBS scribe adds that Zack Greinke will exercise his own opt-out clause this winter. That was a foregone conclusion, though Heyman notes that Greinke is said to have enjoyed the L.A. clubhouse much more this season, so his chances of re-signing may be better than previously expected.
  • Once they hire a manager to replace Dan Jennings, the Marlins’ first order of business will be to pursue an extension with All-Star second baseman Dee Gordon. The 27-year-old led the Majors in hits and stolen bases in his first year with the Marlins. A client of the Beverly Hills Spots Council, Gordon is currently controlled through the 2018 season. He earned $2.5MM in 2015 after avoiding arbitration for the first time as a Super Two player last offseason.
  • The Giants are planning on picking up Nori Aoki’s $5.5MM club option. Considering the $700K buyout attached to the deal, it’s essentially a $4.8MM decision for the Giants, making it seem like a fairly easy call. San Francisco also plans to pursue top-of-the-market arms like Price and Greinke.

Heyman’s Latest: Dodgers/Hamels, Braves, Frazier, Price, Brewers, Upton

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Jon Heyman of CBS Sports kicks off his weekly Inside Baseball column by reporting that the Dodgers have “quietly continued having dialogue with the Phillies” regarding Cole Hamels. The Dodgers are also giving serious consideration to the rental market and prioritizing Johnny Cueto over others among such targets. The Dodgers “appear determined” to land a top-of-the-rotation arm to pair with Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, writes Heyman, but most executives think they’ll hold onto top prospects Corey Seager and Julio Urias. The Dodgers have a deep farm system beyond that pairing (righty Jose De Leon has recently been ranked a Top 25 prospect by Baseball America and ESPN), and one exec tells Heyman that the Phillies’ asking price on Hamels has become “more reasonable” recently. The Dodgers feel that Greinke is a lock to opt out of his contract at the end of the season, and while they could possibly re-sign him by adding a year or two to the deal and upping his $24.5MM AAV, Hamels would provide insurance should Greinke sign elsewhere. Jeff Samardzija is also a consideration for the Dodgers, but while they like him, they consider him more of a No. 2/3 starter and don’t love him.

Some more highlights from Heyman’s article, though the synopsis won’t cover everything within the piece, so I’d highly recommend reading it in its entirety…

  • The Braves will be deadline sellers, Heyman hears, with Jim Johnson, Juan Uribe and Cameron Maybin among the players that will be available to interested teams. Chris Johnson, too, continues to be available, but there are no takers for his contract, which Atlanta has aggressively tried to move in the past.
  • With the Reds expected to trade so many veterans to other clubs, many in the industry expect the team to make a run at extending Todd Frazier beyond his current two-year deal, Heyman writes. (Frazier has one more year of arbitration following his current pact.) Jeff Todd and I have discussed Frazier’s situation on the MLBTR Podcast in the past (and will do so again this afternoon), and I’ve personally taken the stance that given the significant commitments to Joey Votto and Homer Bailey, the Reds could have a difficult time affording Frazier, whose 2014-15 breakout has hugely inflated his price tag. Given the lack of impact bats on the trade market, Frazier would net a king’s ransom and could rapidly expedite the rebuilding process, though the PR hit of trading him with so much control and on the heels of a Home Run Derby victory would of course be significant.
  • In other Reds news, Heyman hears Mike Leake’s ground-ball tendencies are appealing to AL East clubs, and he’s drawn interest from the Blue Jays, Orioles and Red Sox in addition to the Royals, Dodgers, Rangers, Cubs and Giants. Manny Parra and Marlon Byrd are both “likely to go” as well.
  • Asked about the possibility of signing with the Cubs this offseason due to his relationship with skipper Joe Maddon, Tigers ace David Price replied, “Wherever I play baseball next year it’s not going to be because of a manager.”
  • The Astros are interested in both Cueto and Leake, and Houston seems willing to deal from its glut of MLB-ready outfield prospects, including Domingo Santana and Preston Tucker. (Previous reports have indicated they’re reluctant to part with Brett Phillips, however, who may be the best among the outfield bunch.)
  • The Brewers are now showing a willingness to trade both Carlos Gomez and Jean Segura, Heyman hears. Though it was previously believed they were reluctant to move Segura, the emergence of Orlando Arcia (the younger brother of the Twins’ Oswaldo Arcia) may have changed Milwaukee’s thinking. However, Arcia himself is also drawing a huge amount of trade interest, and the Padres have called to express interest. One NL exec called him the best player he’s seen in the minors this year, while another comped him to Francisco Lindor, but said Arcia is better. Regarding Segura, Heyman hears that the Mets dislike his free-swinging approach.
  • The Twins aren’t closed off to the idea of re-acquiring Gomez from the Brewers, but their primary focus at this point is bullpen help.
  • The Mets are aiming high in their pursuit of an outfield bat and have both Gomez and Justin Upton on their radar. They’re not likely to add Aramis Ramirez from the Brewers unless they receive bad news on the prognosis of David Wright. They also have little interest in swinging a deal for Uribe.
  • Padres officials insist that they haven’t determined their course of action heading into the deadline, but Heyman writes that free-agents-to-be such as Upton, Ian Kennedy, Joaquin Benoit and Will Venable could be traded regardless. James Shields’ backloaded contract limits his value, but one GM felt Benoit has “big value” and Heyman notes that Craig Kimbrel would be in huge demand as well, should the Padres try to recoup some value from that deal.
  • Cueto, Samardzija and Leake are atop the Blue Jays’ wish list, and the team was also in talks with the Braves regarding Jason Grilli prior to his season-ending injury. A top starting pitcher is Toronto’s top priority at this point, says Heyman. He also adds that there’s no evidence to suggest that manager John Gibbons is on the hot seat.

Mike Trout, Clayton Kershaw Win MVP Awards

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Angels center fielder Mike Trout and Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw have won the American League and National League MVP Awards, respectively.

The 23-year-old Trout won in unanimous fashion — the first to do so since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997. Trout’s unanimous selection came on the heels of yet another dominant season, as he batted .287/.377/.561 with career-highs in homers (36), runs scored (115) and RBIs (111). Many feel that Trout should have been named the MVP in both the 2012 and 2013 seasons, but the consensus top player in the game now has an MVP to place on his mantle and should probably leave room for a few more to eventually stand by its side.

Trout’s 420 points were the most possible, and rounding out the top 10 in the AL were Victor Martinez (229), Michael Brantley (185), Jose Abreu (145), Jose Bautista (128), Robinson Cano (124), Nelson Cruz (102), Josh Donaldson (96), Miguel Cabrera (82) and Felix Hernandez (48). The full ballot is available in this Google doc from the BBWAA.

Kershaw edged out Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton, finishing with 355 points to 298. Kershaw missed a month with back inflammation but still put together one of the best seasons in recent history. In 198 1/3 innings, Kershaw posted a career-best 1.77 ERA with 10.9 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9. Kershaw’s effort won him his third Cy Young Award in the past four years and resulted in a total of 7.5 rWAR and 7.2 fWAR despite the missed time on the DL.

Behind Kershaw and Stanton in the top 10 were Andrew McCutchen (271), Jonathan Lucroy (167), Anthony Rendon (155), Buster Posey (152), Adrian Gonzalez (57), Adam Wainwright (53), Josh Harrison (52) and Anthony Rizzo (37). The full ballot is available in this Google Doc from the BBWAA.

Clayton Kershaw, Corey Kluber Win Cy Young Awards

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Clayton Kershaw and Corey Kluber have won the National League and American League Cy Young Awards, respectively.

Kershaw was a unanimous winner, with Johnny Cueto and Adam Wainwright finishing second and third, respectively. Madison Bumgarner finished in fourth place (obligatory caveat: votes were due before the postseason commenced), while Jordan Zimmermann, Cole Hamels, Zack Greinke, Doug Fister, Jake Arrieta, Craig Kimbrel, Stephen Strasburg and Henderson Alvarez rounded out the ballot. The award marks Kershaw’s third Cy Young in four seasons.

Kluber, a breakout star with the Indians, edged out Mariners ace Felix Hernandez, who finished second. Kluber received a total of 169 points in the voting, while Hernandez received 159. Rounding out the ballot were Chris Sale, Jon Lester, Max Scherzer, David Price, Phil Hughes, Wade Davis and Greg Holland. Kluber posted an 18-9 record with a 2.44 ERA, 10.3 K/9, 1.9 BB/9 and a 48 percent ground-ball rate in 235 2/3 innings.

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