Kershaw agreed to a one-year deal with an option for 2025. The Dodgers re-signed Kershaw despite his ongoing recovery from shoulder surgery in late 2023. He is expected to miss most of the 2024 season, with a possible return after the All-Star break. The one-year deal provides flexibility for Kershaw as he attempts to return to full form while also allowing him the option to continue into 2025 if he feels ready
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Sources: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers reach agreement
Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers have reached agreement on a new contract, ensuring that one of the greatest players in franchise history will remain with the only organization he has ever pitched for, sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.
Kershaw, who turns 36 in March, will take his physical at the Dodgers’ spring training complex in Glendale, Arizona, within the next day or two, a source told ESPN. The Athletic reported that he will sign a one-year contract that includes a player option for 2025, creating the possibility that he could pitch in the same rotation as Shohei Ohtani next year.
Kershaw will spend at least the first half of the year recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.
The Dodgers can afford to wait. Tyler Glasnow and the newly signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto will make up the top of their rotation at the start of the season, and Walker Buehler, recovering from his second Tommy John surgery, will join shortly thereafter. The Dodgers also signed James Paxton over the offseason and have Bobby Miller locking down a spot, with the likes of Emmet Sheehan, Michael Grove and Gavin Stone also able to contribute.
Kershaw was expected to sign with either the Dodgers or his hometown Texas Rangers this offseason. The New York Post first reported the agreement.
A three-time Cy Young Award winner, an MVP and the predominant pitcher of his era, Kershaw has battled a string of injuries and a decline in velocity in recent years but has nonetheless continued to be exceedingly effective.
The most glaring example came late last season after Kershaw spent all of July sidelined by a sore shoulder. When he returned in August, he struggled to reach 90 mph and was kept on a conservative pitching schedule by the Dodgers. He still found a way to post a 2.23 ERA in eight starts over the last two months of the regular season — his 16th with the team.
In his lone 2023 postseason outing, Kershaw imploded, getting charged with six runs and recording only one out against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 1 of the National League Division Series. He was preparing to start again in Game 4, but the Dodgers — a 100-win team for the third straight year — were swept in three games, marking the second straight year they had been eliminated in their first round by a division rival.
