Monday, November 6, 2023
Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2023
On Friday, Clayton Kershaw underwent his first shoulder surgery during his 16-year major league career. He will be able to pitch again around the 2024 All-Star break. Many Dodger fans wondered if Kershaw would retire after the 2023 season. In his Instagram post, he expressed his desire to play in 2024.
Many Dodger fans expressed their love for Kershaw and wished him well on X.
Kershaw injured his valuable left shoulder during his June 27th start at Coors Field. At first, he didn’t want to go on the IL, but the Dodgers put him on the IL. For the next six weeks, he spent on the IL. When he came off the IL, he didn’t look like himself. His curveball didn’t have a sharp break, and his slider looked like his fastball with diminished velocity. He didn’t have his customary pinpoint control. For the first time in his career, he used a changeup.
Although Kershaw still was successful, he didn’t dominate the opposition anymore. It was apparent Dave Roberts was protecting his future Hall of Famer. After his shoulder injury, he didn’t pitch more than 5.1 innings.
Undoubtedly, the Dodgers had Julio Urías, who was facing legal problems, available to start the NLDS against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but they didn’t. Roberts didn’t want to put the added pressure on the rookie Bobby Miller, so he turned to his injured Hall of Famer to start the NLDS. Kershaw had the worst start of his long career, allowing six runs in the third inning. This set the tone for the disappointing series.
If injuries hadn’t decimated the Dodger starting rotation, the Dodgers probably would have encouraged Kershaw to have the surgery to repair the glenohumeral ligaments to reinforce the shoulder capsule.
Except for Noah Syndergaard who was awful for the Dodgers, every pitcher in the Dodger Opening Day starting rotation couldn’t pitch for the whole season. Dustin May had elbow surgery to repair the flexor ligament. Although Tony Gonsolin wasn’t in the Opening Day starting rotation because of a sprained ankle, he was never healthy during the 2023 season, and the Dodgers shut him down in August and allowed him to have Tommy John surgery.
The Dodgers might need to examine how they treat their starters since they had an unusual amount of serious injuries. Although injuries are commonplace for pitchers now because they want to have high velocity, the Dodgers’ starters have more injuries than most teams.
At 35, Kershaw has achieved everything a pitcher can in the major leagues. The three-time Cy Young Award winner needs 56 strikeouts. In 2014, he had a no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies and won the National League MVP. In 2012, Kershaw won the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award.
Currently, Kershaw is a free agent. The Dodgers need to offer him a contract even though Kershaw wants to play when he has a contract. He needs medical supervision. He has been a loyal Dodger since 2008. While he has made a lot of money with the Dodgers, he could have much more money than the Dodgers had paid him if he went through the free agency process.
Even before Kershaw’s surgery, the Dodgers needed to concentrate on acquiring starters. They cannot count on Walker Buehler returning from his second Tommy John surgery to make 32 starts. Also, they cannot rely on both Bobby Miller and Emmet Sheehan to become great starters.
Photo Credit: Megan Briggs/Getty Images
