There continues to be hope that the top pitcher in the game, left-hander Clayton Kershaw, will remain with the Dodgers beyond the upcoming season. Kershaw, who could opt out of the final two years and $65MM on his contract next winter, said last week that he and Dodgers management are “on the same page.” Then, on Saturday, Dodgers owner Mark Walter told Jon Heyman of FanRag that “[Kershaw] should be a Dodger for life.” While it doesn’t seem as if a new deal is imminent – both Walter and Kershaw suggested to Heyman that the hurler wants to wait until the end of the year to sort out his future – the three-time Cy Young winner gushed over his long tenure with the franchise. “I love it here. It’s great,” said Kershaw, who’s entering his age-30 season. “I’ve had an amazing run here. And I don’t take that for granted. Not many guys can say they get to go to the playoffs (almost) every year, or even that they have a chance to go to the playoffs every year.”
More from the majors’ West divisions…
- The Rangers could elect to use a six-man rotation this year, but their best starter, Cole Hamels, isn’t on board (via Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News). The 34-year-old southpaw opined Saturday that a six-man starting staff isn’t “appropriate for where I am at this stage.” Hamels also took a shot at the idea in general, saying: “It’s not part of baseball. I know that’s the new, analytical side, trying to re-invent the wheel. … that’s just not what MLB is to me. That’s not how I learned from my mentors. That’s not the way I’m geared to pitch.” Unfortunately for Hamels, manager Jeff Banister favors the six-man alignment and seems more likely than ever to try it this season, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets. Regardless of how Texas’ rotation plans shake out, it’ll probably need a bounce-back year from Hamels to have any chance at a playoff spot. The longtime front-end starter endured arguably the worst season of his career in 2017, when he logged a 4.20 ERA/4.62 FIP with 6.39 K/9 and 3.22 BB/9 across 148 innings.
- The Diamondbacks are still determining their starting middle infield for 2018, Steve Gilbert of MLB.com writes. Either Ketel Marte or Chris Owings could start at second base or shortstop, while Nick Ahmed is also in contention – but only at short. “I’d say on that front, we value Nick as a shortstop,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “I haven’t had a conversation with him beyond playing shortstop at this point.” With the exception of an 11-inning stint at the keystone in 2014, his first taste of major league action, Ahmed has spent his entire career at short. He has dazzled defensively, evidenced by his 37 DRS and 19.6 UZR, but has only managed a .226/.273/.345 batting line in 1,020 plate appearances.
- The Padres have temporarily halted right-hander Colin Rea’s throwing program after he experienced soreness in his pitching shoulder Friday, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com reports. Rea, who’s working back from 2016 Tommy John surgery, is now unlikely to be ready for the start of the year, Cassavell suggests. Consequently, it appears he’s out of the running for a spot in the Padres’ season-opening rotation, though Cassavell notes that they still have seven other candidates for their starting five.
Tough year for Kershaw to opt out, with Harper and Machado on the market, too, but it would be interesting what kind of deal he might fetch. 5/200?
Apples and oranges. Kershaw would have his own market being he’s a pitcher.
Apples and oranges. Being a pitcher, Kershaw’s market wouldn’t really overlap Harper’s or Machado’s unless you’re concerned that one team wouldn’t be able to afford him and one of the others
I think that would be the bigger fear – only a handful of teams can afford Kershaw and they may be more interested in Harper or Machado. I mean, obviously if Kershaw was on the market the usual suspects would be involved – Yanks, BoSox, Dodgers, Cubs – but the Yankees seem to be angling hard for Harper or Machado.
phils can afford an apple and an orange…just as long as isnt Mark Appel.
Yankees can afford Harper Machado and Kershaw, Red Sox and Cubs probably only going for Kershaw and Giants probably for Kershaw Harper and Dodgers for Kershaw and looking how does the outfield and Forsythe
If Kershaw is FA and healthy probably will be the top priority for all teams
Nice run on sentence, Bro!
Kershaw isn’t going anywhere, so quit wasting your run-ons.
Apples and Oranges. I believe Kershaw pitches.
Kershaw is a pitcher. And its not like anyone but the Dodgers is going to sign him
Are you high? Do Machado and Harper pitch? Are you high?
What does Harper or Machado have to do with Kershaw? By the same token are you saying its a tough season for Harper and Machado to be a free agent if Kershaw opts out?
Three players who are competing for minimum 200 million dollar deals on the market at once I think is problematic. I mean, look at this off-season.
I think a big part of this off-season’s pace is exactly that teams are saving up and resetting luxury tax thresholds for Harper, Machado, and potentially Kershaw.
If Kershaw opts out I could see the Rangers making a huge play for him…
Yeah, Texas would probably go huge for the hometown-hero-returns story alone. Plus, their pitching is not good.
Definitely,when do they open their new park?
The Rangers new ballpark is opening in 2020.
If he doesn’t want to pitch in a 6 man rotation I know a team that uses a 5 that could desperately us him. Bring him back to Philly!
Isn’t the 6-man rotation more for the back end? Your ace would still be pitching every 5th day or whatever to get them the most starts for the season, and then you can swap the back end of the rotation around as you need to. Doesn’t seem like a bad strategy if you’re only working with one ace in your rotation.
No one has really tried it so there isn’t a set way of doing it. The idea is that starting pitchers will pitch better with five days between starts than they would with four. It’d work best if your rotation is filled with young pitchers on innings limits and older players coming off injuries.
It wouldn’t work as well if you have one or two starters who are head and shoulders above the rest. The Nationals would be taking starts away from 5-6 WAR pitchers like Scherzer and Strasburg and handing them to Joe Ross and A.J. Cole. That doesn’t make a lot of sense.
The problem with pitching your ace every fifth day is that your other pitchers can end up with six or seven days between starts.
Dodgers basically used a 6 man rotation last year. Kershaw got the ball every 5th day and the rest of the staff was jumbled all year pitching every 6th, 7th or 11th day if the team used the DL to give somebody a chance to skip a start. You need depth to make it work.
I’m with Hamels on this one. First off the Rangers will have a hellava time just trying to find four good starters let alone six. On top of that these geniuses in the Rangers front office failed to take into consideration that several times this season opposing teams will not only miss the Rangers number 1 starter but quite possibly miss their number 2 starter as well. But hey, that number six starter will be well rested. Aside from that do you really believe a guy like Clayton Kershaw is going to buy into that and watch is stats plummet from lack of starts and innings pitched. Doubtful.
The Dodgers basically did that with Kershaw last season, remember? And all their starters – Dodgers had like a de facto 7-man rotation last year to give Hill and Kershaw extra rest. Despite Hamels not liking it, this is the direction teams are going in. Hamels will still start his 30 games this year, it will be the 4-6 starters in the rotation that will be manipulated anyway.
Wrong. Did you check his game log from last year? No?Didn’t think so. Before he went on the DL in late July with a back issue he had been on a five man rotation. It was only when he came back in September did Kershaw pitch with the additional day off because by that time the Dodgers we 16 games in 1st place.
The Dodgers had 6 pitchers start at least 16 games in 2017, and no starter pitched more than 175 innings. And that’s not including Darvish’s 9 starts. The Dodgers indeed used a six-man rotation last season, with judicious DL stints to limit starts and innings.
The argument isn’t what the Dodgers did with the rest of the rotation. The argument is what they did with Kershaw and how he wouldn’t buy into the six man rotation if a team such as the Rangers expected him to buy in. Aside from that any team it’s just plain dumb for a team to run out a poor quality starter every sixth day against a team throwing a better arm. The problem is MLB doesn’t even have enough quality starting pitchers as it is and now you want to dilute the quality of the rotations even further?
The Dodgers won, what 105 games or something last year with a six-man rotation. So explain again how it doesn’t help a team win?
You are correct that the Dodgers used the tactical DL to give everyone in the rotation time off last year, except Kershaw. They were very clear in stating he would not be managed that way.
I think there’s a difference between committing to something for a season and keeping someone coming off an injury healthy for the playoffs.
Explain to me how running out a glorified long reliever as a regular sixth starter is putting a better product on the field. Explain to me how barely .500 teams making the playoffs are a better product. Oh, there are more teams in the playoff hunt but the overall product is much weaker.
Dodgers used a 5 man rotation at any given time except very late in the season with the division won. Go back and check the box scores.
I think you’re misunderstanding my point; it’s not six pitchers in order for a six-man rotation. At any given time the Dodgers may have had five pitchers in the rotation, but they used a rotation of six starters most of the year, using the DL judiciously and limiting all the starters’ innings and number of starts.
Apparently your right I am misunderstanding what you are saying. So are you saying Hamels is right by his stance against a true six man rotation in the way the Rangers are planning to use it and that you support a traditional five man rotation with the fifth spot being a floating spot for multiple options? If that is the case then the Dodgers did not do anything unique because many teams have used different pitchers as their five starter throughout the year. And if that is the case you have no arguement against what Hamels is saying about pitching With regular four days rest rather than five days rest. In essence you would be agreeing with him and have made his point.
No;I think the Rangers are just doing what the Dodgers did last season and rotating six or 7 pitchers through 5 rotation slots and Hamels will pitch with his usual rest and get 30 starts anyway. Even with the tactical DL stints the Dodgers used last season Kershaw got 27 starts and Alex Wood also started 27 games, Hill 24 – the Dodgers also managed their innings heavily, as only Kershaw pitched more than 155 innings. If Texas is actually going to carry six starters and use them in order all season, with five days rest, I would be surprised because with 8-man bullpens that leaves just two bench spots and no team can pull that off.
“This is the way we’ve always done it” is the worst rationale ever.
I agree with Cole, the analytics are destroying the game. It’s B.S that pitchers can go on a 5 man rotation and pitch complete games. Why reinvent that was not broken. Ask Nolan Ryan.
Can’t not can
Nolan Ryan was an extreme outlier. Ask the vast majority of pitchers, who break down all the time and forever. Ask Mark Prior. Or Tim Lincecum. Or Dizzy dean. Or Sandy Koufax….or…or.
Extreme outlier. Oh please! If you want to go tit for tat let’s do it. How about starting with Burt Blyleven, Ferguson Jenkins, Jim Palmer, Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Randy Johnson, Greg Madrid, Tom Glavine, Don Sutton, Roger Clemens and a lot more.
You’re basically naming a list of Hall of Fame pitchers. Most pitchers aren’t Hall of Famers, because most pitchers a) break down. and b) aren’t good enough. Hall of Famers are very obviously outliers; that’s why there so few of them. For every pitcher you mentioned I could name ten pitchers who may have had HoF talent and just broke down.
Clemens was a 500 pitcher in the early 90’s and juiced back into “the rocket”, so let’s put him aside for a moment. Also I’m not sure who Greg Madrid is.
Only two pitchers on your list retained their front-end starter stuff.through an advanced age.: Johnson & Ryan. They rest were pedestrian after 35.
Not In The HOF…..
In 1986, Fernando Valenzuela started 34 times, pitched 269.1 innings, had 242 K’s, and threw……..20 Complete Games / 3 shutouts.
From 1982 – 1990 (9 seasons)….he started 296 games (33 ave) and 96 Complete games (33%)
From 2008 – 2017 (10 Seasons)….Kershaw started 290 games (29 ave) and 25 Complete games (8%)
4th starters were tossing 10 CG a year back in the day.
Pedestrian after 35? What do you expect pitchers to pitch until 50? Please! Greg Maddux. Spell checker error. But back to plus 35 year old pitchers, yeah if he’s a starter beyond that age do you think he sucks? Hardly. You need to look at pitchers that are not beyond their prime to make your point and those pitchers meet that criteria. I might also throw out Curt Schilling, Kevin Brown and Dave Stewart. None are in the HOF.
Dave Stewart as a Hall of Famer? With his career ERA+ of `100? Uh, no. He also was washed up at 33. Brown has a borderline case but has never gained traction as a candidate because nobody in the game liked him very much and there was some PED suspicion of him, which isn’t fair but here we are. Schilling should be in the Hall and he will get there someday, I think. But pitchers with short careers that ended early in the Hall are few and far between – Dean, Koufax, Feller, that guy from the 1800s who died after playing 8 seasons but is somehow in the Hall….uhhh….Newhouser? The Hall of Fame in baseball rewards the elite; yes, the outliers. It’s by far the most select Hall of Fame of all the major sports and that’s because most players aren’t good enough or couldn’t stay healthy long enough to have a long career.
Only Ryan and Johnson were productive after 35? Carlton won a Cy Young in his age 35 & age 37 seasons. In his age 35-39 seasons he averaged 34 starts, 238K’s and had an ERA of 2.91. That’s pretty productive.
I did not say Dave Stewart was a HOF pitcher. I listed him as a pitcher who is not a HOFer who had a very good career. You said the list of pitchers I provided were all HOFers so I provided you even more pitchers. It’s funny how people use the PED excuse to exclude pitchers/position players who were never found guilty of anything but there was “suspicions.” You have ZERO proof Stewart used PEDS.
I’d rather ask Sandy Koufax.
If Sandy Koufax had the medical procedures we have today he’d have pitched a lot longer.
Right, why worry about breaking them when you can tape, I mean stitch, them together?..
Or if he hadn’t pitched like 1000 innings in three seasons he might have pitched past 30.
There were a lot of very good starting pitchers through the early part of the 2000s who threw a lot of innings. Where is any evidence showing that MLB with all their analytics are doing a BETTER job of developing starting pitchers now than ever in the past? Is that crickets I hear?
Yes there were and there are. I truly suggest you check out Passan’s “The Arm” for more about this. The pitchers I’m assuming you are talking about – the Johnson and Glavine and Maddux class – they are some of the very best pitchers in the history of baseball. Kershaw is at least as good as any of them. There’s plenty of great starting pitchers in the game now; we won’t know until 10 years or so who all of them were. But for every Glavine and Maddux there’s a Brandon Webb or Felix Hernandez or Kevin Appier or Prior or Wood or Alex Fernandez,
Hell we can just keep making lists like this but the point is that doctors, people with medical training,, inform decisions about workload and the presence of a few outlier pitchers who threw lots of innings doesn’t suggest that it works for everyone. Here’s a fun one – Appier. Look at his age 25 and age 26 seasons on B-R. I know it was the strike year, but look at what happened after. He just wasn’t ever the same after throwing 240 innings in ’93. He bounnced around the rest of his career between decent and bad and always had arm trouble. There’s more pitchers like that in the history of baseball than there are Hall of Famers, by far.
I did read Passan’s book “The Arm” and quite frankly I found it lacking. He could have easily chopped the book in half instead of boring us to tears with Todd Coffey, Casey Weathers and Daniel Hudson. At the end I found no new revelations that are going to stem the tide of arm injuries and that includes Kyle Boddy and James Buffi and their spin on pitching injuries. I like Passan but he intentionally inserted five dollar words throughout the book that no one uses in everyday language apparently to let people know how smart he is. I wanted to say, “Jeff, we get it. You’re a smart guy.”
“The game is NEVER allowed to evolve past the era IM comfortable with!”
Such a stupid thing to rant over, this whole conversation of “ace-5th” “1-5 SP” pledges fans put on SPs is also severely outdated, being that an injury might happen so the best pitcher pitches 3rd, stuff like that happens. Baseball needs to find a better way to gage how good a pitcher is, considering all factors we now know that we didn’t use before.
It’s amazing how Hamels can say that and not know for the longest time that rotations had 4 and sometimes only had 3 pitchers
who says he didnt know that? whats so amazing about what he said?
He said it’s not baseball and not what he eas taught.
Well, by that logic baseball never would have moved on from 3 man rotations.
That’s not how his mentors did it. lol.
So if we want the quality of players back maybe we should just let them juice again lol too soon?
Cole Hamels needs to come back to Philly. We need his veteran leadership for our young staff.
Take him.
If they want to ship Hamels back to the Phils, for dirt cheap and eat some of that money id be all for it.
Or trade him back home to San Diego where he is from straight up for Clayton Richard.
Just looked at Hamels salary this year, 22.5M. Texas could very well be like don’t want to be here? Fine, see ya.
Easy trade, the money works out well too.
Cole Hamels to the Padres, SD eats the whole contract.
Clayton Richard and his 2/6M remaining go to Texas along with Chase Headley and his 1/14M.
Padres essentially upgrade their #1 spot in the rotation, for 2.5 million while clearing a spot for Villanueva to be the clear cut starter at 3B.
My God!..Im a Padres fan, and that trade sounds ludicrous for all kinds of reasons. Hamels for Richard, makes you sound, “unhinged”, sorry.
Because everyone in the Texas front office is high? Clayton Richard, lmao!
What’s the value of a 34 year old starter on the back end of his career, pitching for what’s most likely going to be a last place team? Making 22.5M at that? If anything the Texas front office would be high to not unload him.
Trading him’s not the issue. Trading him for a 34-year-old spare like Clayton Richard is.
The Rangers would be much better off eating half his contract and actually getting something of worth back in return.
I agree bleacherbum. I do believe however CH has ano trade clause.
It cracks me up. A lot of people who want expansion don’t like the 6 starters because thete isn’t enough depth for teams to have 6.
Somehow, there is enough to add 25 or so more pitchers to the majors.
By the way, it’s about the best for rhe team, not one guy.
Yankees don’t need Harper, if Andujar is for real they won’t need Machado either. Therefore Kershaw will be in pinstripes.
Not when the competition can actually afford to keep their star. Dodgers can spend with the Yankees without adding 40 million to their payroll with 1 guy
CK would stay with LA and even discount them before he ever wore pin strips. Another delusional Yank fan. They wont get Harper either – you can bank it. Macho maybe but who cares the guy doesn’t want to play 3rd, so he at SS. You have the best prospects at SS. Really the Yanks trying to get all these guys like Stranton which won’t matter, Macho and who ever else they blow their wad on is insulting their great prospects. If I were one of the prospects I be looking to go to a club who wants to develope them, and take it as an isult from NY brass.
AL East is probably not a good spot for Kershaw and his long ball issues.
Huh?
The Rangers’ offseason plan has now managed to piss off its two best players — Adrian Beltre (not adding any real free agent talent) and Cole Hamels (moving to a six-man rotation with one decent starter).
This is a franchise in disarray. If the plan was to suck and experiment while doing it, they should have traded off their veterans as a courtesy to two guys who deserve to get to play for a real team in the twilight of their careers.
This offseason has been a joke.
I think if Dodgers win the WS, Kershaw can go to Rangers, Hes a Ranger fan and I think can give a huge discount to them
Uh No! What are you drinking, Bro?
He’s a Rangers fan??? Lolololol
He’s a Dodger fan, Nancy.
Cole Hamels has always had a very structured routine. In the 2008 post season he wouldn’t pitch on three days rest. Overall I don’t think most SP’s would like this because it will dilute their numbers, which will cost them $$
Hamels wants out of Texas. He knows they’re a long shot to make the postseason… He’s just posturing for a trade. He would rather go home to Philly and play out his contract. Philly would take him….Texas would prefer to shed the contract…he’ll be back with the Phils by July…at the latest. Pretty obvious.
interesting…I happen to think they should trade him, for more pitching. Whats the use in keeping him “for life” when he folds like a cheap tent, ever post season? #JustMy2Cents