Clayton Kershaw isn’t going anywhere.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are apparently close to signing a new deal with the longtime pitcher, who was spotted at the team’s spring training facility on Tuesday morning, according to multiple reports. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, considering that Kershaw has said that he wants to be a “Dodger for life,” but he hit free agency this offseason after declining the 2025 option on his previous deal.
Specifics of Kershaw’s new deal with the team, or when it will actually be signed, are not yet known. But considering he showed up to spring training without a finalized deal, it should be in the very near future.
Kershaw missed the entire postseason last fall — and the Dodgers’ World Series run — due to foot and knee injuries that ended up needing surgery in November. He had the meniscus in his left knee fixed, and then he had an operation in his foot to address a bone spur, arthritis and a ruptured plantar plate. The 36-year-old said at the time he planned to return to the mound next season.
Kershaw, who made his MLB debut in 2008, has spent his entire career with the Dodgers. He last pitched on Aug. 30 and made just seven starts for the team last season, which marked the fewest in a season in his 12-year career. The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner went 2-2 last season with a 4.50 ERA.
The Kershaw deal marks the latest the team has made in what has been an incredibly expensive offseason — as they landed Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell, Teoscar Hernández, Hyeseong Kim and others. They are expected to have a payroll of more than $375 million next season, which is by far the most in the league, will lead them to a massive luxury tax penalty and has rubbed at least one other owner the wrong way. Kershaw will try to rejoin a rotation that is expected to have star Shohei Ohtani back on the mound for the first time since he landed with the Dodgers, too.
Clearly, the franchise is going all-in on a return trip to the World Series. Kershaw’s signing is somehow just a small part in that quest.
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