Former Dodger Clayton Kershaw…
The 4 phrases are startling. Their which means is unsettling. Their implication is unnerving.
However is their actuality actually so terrible?
Wouldn’t it be so horrible for each Kershaw and the Dodgers if they’ve performed their final sport collectively?
That may be a query value asking as each events embark on what may very well be a winter of uncomfortable however probably inevitable transition.
Reality: There’s at the least a 50-50 likelihood that future Corridor of Famer Kershaw might select to by no means pitch once more for the Dodgers.
He’s a free agent. He’s going through a months-long restoration from current shoulder surgical procedure. He lives proper down the road from a World Collection champion Texas Rangers workforce run by his buddy, Chris Younger. He has lengthy professed a want to complete his profession at dwelling along with his spouse, Ellen, and their 4 kids, and becoming a member of the Rangers would afford him the right alternative.
This might all result in him to unimaginably depart the one main league dwelling he’s ever recognized, however who might blame him?
Reality: There’s additionally at the least a 50-50 likelihood that the Dodgers can be understanding if he didn’t come again.
He can be 36 when the season begins. He may not be capable to frequently pitch till the season ends. For a lot of the summer time his presence right here can be principally symbolic, and that’s not how anybody within the group desires to recollect their endlessly warrior.
Kershaw has given the franchise one of many biggest 16-year careers in baseball historical past, he has given them a World Collection title, he has given them practically 3,000 innings, he has given them his household life, he has given them his shoulder, he has given them all the pieces.
This might all lead the Dodgers to unimaginably rationalize that it’s lastly time for a cut up, however who might blame them?
Kershaw owes the Dodgers nothing. The Dodgers owe him nothing. He is perhaps prepared for a change. The Dodgers is perhaps prepared for a similar change. It could be a clear break stuffed with mutual respect and the promise that in the future he’ll return for the retirement of his quantity and the revealing of his statue.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw reacts after being eliminated within the first inning of Sport 1 of the Nationwide League Division Collection in opposition to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Instances)
What’s so horrible about that?
Some consider that the Dodgers should do all the pieces inside their energy to maintain Kershaw. Others consider that Kershaw ought to exit of his technique to stay a Dodger for all times.
Neither assertion is true. Neither assertion is truthful. In the event that they’re able to amicably separate, allow them to amicably separate, they don’t deserve any of the general public sniping that may include the separation.
Nothing has been determined. When requested about it, the Dodgers are saying they need him again, whereas Kershaw is saying he’s undecided. There’s no tea leaves. There’s no timetable. This might nonetheless go both manner.
When requested this week about Kershaw, Dodgers baseball boss Andrew Friedman repeated an earlier unqualified assertion of full assist. He says they need to re-sign him, interval.
“We’re very respectful of Clayton and Ellen’s determination and are giving them the time and house to make the most effective determination for his or her household,” stated Friedman. “However selfishly, we hope it’s for him to proceed and end his profession in Dodger blue.”
As for Kershaw, properly, he’s not so sure. When requested about his future after the Dodgers had been swept out of the primary spherical of the playoffs by the Arizona Diamondbacks, he wouldn’t reply. He acknowledged his priorities have modified from previous contract negotiations, however he wouldn’t say how.
“I’m not going to get into it,” he instructed reporters. “We’ll see. I’m undecided. I don’t know the best way to reply that proper now.”
If Kershaw does depart, regardless of one other messy October ending, he’ll exit triumphantly. He gave this workforce 210 wins, a franchise-record 2,944 strikeouts, three Cy Younger Awards, an MVP, probably the most dominating no-hitters ever, and a permanent mannequin of professionalism and sophistication.
Actually, he can be criticized for the poorest postseason report of any pitcher with at the least 100 postseason innings — he’s 13-13 with a 4.49 ERA, and Dodgers followers can recite each shelling.
However he also needs to be celebrated for rising to the distinctive event within the abbreviated-season World Collection of 2020, profitable each of his begins in opposition to the Tampa Bay Rays with a 2.31 ERA.
Sure, you possibly can select to recollect him for what is perhaps his closing look in a Dodgers uniform, a nightmarish playoff loss to the Diamondbacks through which, it seems, he was pitching with a totally collapsed shoulder that was so shredded, it later required the primary surgical procedure of his profession. Pitching with solely a shadow of a left arm, he gave up hits to the primary 5 batters and retired simply considered one of eight Diamondbacks earlier than trudging off the mound with a collection ERA of 162.00.
Should you select to do not forget that darkish ending, although, you also needs to bear in mind the fantastic final stand that led as much as that second, as Kershaw got here off the injured checklist in August and coaxed his torn shoulder right into a 3-1 report with a 2.23 ERA down the stretch.
These closing two months of the common season had been traditional Kershaw. It was willpower past query, toughness past measure, and he shouldn’t be judged by one final awful October inning with a damaged wing.
Kershaw would depart right here as a hero, even when he winds up working elsewhere, irrespective of how foolish it would look. Bear in mind, the lifelong carrying of a Dodgers jersey isn’t one of many necessities for the retirement of that jersey.
Do you know that Fernando Valenzuela pitched for 5 different groups moreover the Dodgers? Do you know that each Duke Snider and Gil Hodges ended their careers elsewhere?
It doesn’t matter what Clayton Kershaw finally decides, he and the Dodgers have each earned the correct to conduct the monumental transfer with grace and dignity.
No apologies. No regrets. A helluva experience.
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