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Clayton Kershaw isn’t going anywhere.
The star pitcher will remain with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2022 season, reportedly signing a one-year deal with the team, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
Jon Heyman of MLB Network added the deal was worth $17 million with incentives.
It’s a big move for a rotation in question after Max Scherzer signed with the New York Mets before the lockout.
Behind Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Julio Urias, Andrew Heaney, David Price and Tony Gonsolin are L.A.’s rotational options. Dustin May is recovering Tommy John surgery, while Trevor Bauer remains on administrative leave after a woman accused him of assaulting and raping her. Los Angeles prosecutors did not charge Bauer, but past reports indicated he’s unlikely to ever pitch for the Dodgers again.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts did tell reporters Friday that he doesn’t want to “close the door completely” on Bauer being with the team at spring training. Certainly, Bauer’s future will impact the team’s approach to the pitching staff this season.
But even if he is back, he’d still potentially be facing a lengthy suspension from Major League Baseball, a factor for the Dodgers to consider if they don’t cut ties altogether.
If they do the latter, adding another arm in free agency would make sense. The question will be whether the team will be willing to pay big bucks for one of the prominent arms left on the market.
Given that Kershaw’s reported salary would bring the team to around $231 million in payroll, per Spotrac, adding more arms in free agency would push them to the top spending mark in baseball.
Regardless, the return of Kershaw is big. The eight-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young award winner, 2020 champion and 2014 NL MVP didn’t have a vintage season by his own lofty standards in 2021, finishing 10-8 with a 3.55 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 144 strikeouts in 121.2 innings.
His days as a truly elite ace might be behind him. Given that he’ll be 34 this upcoming season, a decline is inevitable at some point. But his 2021 campaign was hardly poor and he remains an excellent option for the Dodgers and a player they’ll be very happy to have back.
The bigger question is how the team will round out the rotation behind him. To be continued on that front.
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