The Dodgers placed Clayton Kershaw on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 30, due to soreness in his throwing shoulder. L.A. also optioned reliever Victor González to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Righties Michael Grove and Gavin Stone have been recalled to take the active roster spots.
There’s no indication it’s a worrisome issue. Kershaw has felt the soreness for the past few days. The Dodgers held off until this evening to determine whether he’d be able to make his scheduled start tonight against Pittsburgh. That won’t happen, but Dodgers’ beat reporters (including Juan Toribio of MLB.com) noted that Kershaw was on the field throwing long toss.
Dave Roberts also downplayed any concern. The Los Angeles manager told reporters the club was confident Kershaw would be eligible to jump back into the rotation coming out of next week’s All-Star Break (relayed by Fabian Ardaya of the Athletic). Keeping Kershaw out of action through the Break avoids pushing his shoulder and also serves as a way to monitor his innings.
The three-time Cy Young award winner has made 22 starts in each of the last two seasons, coming in just under 130 frames in each. He’d already gotten up to 17 starts and 95 1/3 innings this year. While Kershaw is no longer capable of carrying league-high workloads as he did during his peak, he remains one of the sport’s most effective arms. Kershaw sports a 2.55 ERA and was selected to his tenth All-Star Game over the weekend. Obviously, he won’t participate in the Midsummer Classic, meaning he’ll be replaced on the National League roster.
Grove will get the start tonight against the Bucs. The righty has taken the ball nine times (seven starts) on the season. Over 37 innings, he has a 7.54 ERA and is allowing just under two homers per nine. Neither Grove nor Stone has filled in as hoped in depth roles this year, making the starting staff a potential deadline focus for the front office. Kershaw joins Dustin May, Noah Syndergaard, Ryan Pepiot and Walker Buehler (the latter two of whom haven’t pitched all season) on the injured list.
Was only a matter of time.
Agreed. The Starts this year. The innings racked up. The mileage he already has. I think they were at least trying to limit his pitches per start based on stats. But also the added stress of having other injuries to the rotation and Kershaw taking the lead. Only a matter of time.
He’s the pitching equivalent of Anthony Rendon or Michael Brantly. They’re just made of glass.
His average of over 170 innings per season for 16 years says you’re all wet.
He hasn’t started 30 games in 8 years and hasn’t pitched more than 127 innings since 2019. That’s hardly a workhorse. Says you’re living in the past. Dude hasn’t been reliable since 2015.
in those 8 years since 2015, he is top 10 in all of baseball in total innings pitched. Hardly consider that being made of glass. But, don’t let facts get in the way of your trolling. Carry on lol
Drugs are bad… We get it, you’re a Dodger bootlicker. But seriously, don’t start making things up to support your hold on the past.
In case you actually want to educate yourself. statmuse.com/mlb/ask/most-innings-pitched-in-last-….
I said EIGHT YEARS. Not 5. You’re the one who referenced “since 2015”
statmuse.com/mlb/ask/most-innings-pitched-in-last-…
2020 the MLB only played 60 games, and Clayton start 10games and 58 innings, preety sure thats a full season
BlueSkies is one of the most clueless people on here. Absolutely clownish.
He pitched as many games as a starter really could have in 2020 so you are really talking about 2021 / 2022. Comparing him to Rendon is laughable.
lol even on this list you are citing he is #23. That still puts him in the #1 workload for each team in MLB. you just disproved your own over exaggeration .
> He’s the pitching equivalent of
> Anthony Rendon or Michael Brantly.
> They’re just made of glass.
Made of glass? Kershaw has thrown 40,393 official pitches in his career over 16 years. It doesn’t include warm-ups and everything else so you could reasonably guess as high as 50,000 pitches.
I don’t know how you can expect someone not to break down after pitching that much. The unusual cases are the ones who never broke down like Nolan Ryan or Greg Maddux, but those pitchers are freaks of nature and not common or what should be expected.
Awful comparison. Dude literally broke his back pitching for the Dodgers all those times on short rest.
What a crock of crap comment. Ignorant, one might say.
Don’t forget the ever healthy Moncada!
Michael Brantley and Clayton Kershaw
play through severe injuries are not in the same class as Anthony Rendon. Giancarlo Stanton is a closer comparison. Rendon and Stanton have been accused of feigning injury.
Kershaw has never made fewer than 21 starts in any season…
His numbers are always top of the rotation level.
Kershaw has helped lead the Dodgers to the playoffs in almost every season.
Kershaw has been available in the playoffs in all, but one season. (not always great, but healthy and available)
Hard to compare him to players who have many seasons that have been completely washed out…
> Kershaw has never made fewer
> than 21 starts in any season…
I agree with your comments but he made 10 starts in 2020.
That was a COVID shortened season where teams played 60 games instead of 162. If you extrapolate 10 starts that is equivalent to 27 starts over a normal season.
> If you extrapolate
There is no practical application for extrapolating stats in that way (the official MLB stats are not totaled on what could have happened, only on what did happen). Extrapolation also assumes that your base sample size remains consistent and holds for the duration. No injuries, performance changes, etc.
He made 10 starts in 2020.
So you think it’s rational to ding him for making 10 starts in a season where only 37% of the games were played? That is asinine. I can see that stats is not your thing. He could have only made 12 starts at most. He also made 4 starts in the post season. Didn’t get hurt until after making 17 starts in the following season. This is of course after also taking into account that in the 14 seasons where 162 games played he did at least make at least 21 starts.
I already defended Kershaw. If you scroll up a bit you might even see the point I made.
Stats are my thing. Numbers are what they are, nothing more or less. Clayton Kershaw started 10 games in 2020. That’s it.
it sounds like the stat you’re trying to use is percent of possible starts in a given season or something. I don’t even know if that’s an official stat. 21/33 (i went with 33 even if some starters start 34 games) is 63.6% of possible starts. In 2020 he was 10/12 or 83.3%.
So:
> Kershaw has never made fewer
> than 21 starts in any season
Should be:
Kershaw has never made fewer
than 63.6% of his scheduled starts
in any season…
Is that fair enough?
Nobody has ever accused you of staying within the context. The context being that Kershaw is fragile. When one takes context into an answer it becomes a more intelligent answer instead of saying he only made 10 starts in a season if 60 games. I know it’s difficult for some to take that extra step, or perhaps some just love to troll. Not sure if you’re the former, latter or both but I suspect the latter.
It really is the smart move putting him on the IL. With the way the scheduling is due to the all star break, he might only miss 2 starts.
Gonzales has been overdue to get sent out. Curious about the Stone call-up. We shall see.
Seemed more like inevitable, given his taking himself out of his last start and the coming break.
Too bad, the game loses out when stars like Kerhaw are injured. I hope he returns soon.
This was planned along
I guess he will need a replacement for the All Star Game
His teammate Evan Phillips can take his spot
I’m not current on All-Star game or roster construction rules, but I think they need to replace an injured starting pitcher with another starting pitcher. It can’t be a reliever, right?
I believe it should be fine. This is according to the MLB site.
“Does an injured or otherwise unavailable player have to be replaced by a player from the same position?
Not necessarily. Pitchers are replaced by pitchers. But on the position-player front, we’ve seen situations like infielders replacing outfielders and vice versa.”
Thanks for the clarification.
Btw, I have to add, I always think you’re a troll because of your profile pic. It’s really confused me from time to time
It’s of Brick Tannen (actor/comedian Steve Carell) from the Anchorman movies. Are you familiar with those? I’m guessing no..
Oh yes. That’s why I always think this
The Dodgers have had an entire pitching rotation on the IL for the majority of the season, with an overworked and ineffective bullpen, with a dreadful bottom 3rd of the lineup, and yet enter today’s game 9 games above .500, a firm hold on a Wild Card spot, and just 3 games back of the NL West lead.
Exactly. It’s not all doom and gloom, despite what some say. They’ve been hit by a massive injury toll and some underperformance, yet they are still on track for the postseason.
On the other hand, they’re chasing a really exciting Arizona team. But one that is getting performances from places they didn’t expect – like Evan Longoria having his best season since 2012, at 37 years old.
Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte, Christian Walker and and Zac Gallen were all regarded as core players coming into the season. The Dbacks’ success shouldn’t surprise anyone paying attention to Hazen’s blueprint for the past several seasons. If anything, you could argue the team is capable of more given the struggles of several key young pitchers and outfielders.
Yes, their schedule has been incredibly soft so far, as per usual. Team is going nowhere.
Definitely a way to get him extra rest with the AS break coming.
Death, taxes, Kershaw IL, Stanton IL
Roberts always downplays it. Next thing you know he’s out 2 months.
Roberts always downplays these things. Next thing you know is that he’s out 2 months.
It isn’t his job to keep us informed about injuries. This team has always played this information close to the vest.
Clayton Kershaw – the oldest 35 year old man to ever walk the Earth.
You clearly never watched Albert Pujols when he was “35”.
You clearly haven’t watched Kershaw since at least when he was 27. Also, would like to note Pujols was also and All-Star when he was “35” – 40 homers and 95 RBIs.
Clueless Hall of Fame, semifinalist.
And mute
🙁
No way Dodger brass could have anticipated this amount of SP dl activity. Whether someone new on it or waiting for others to come off of it, what a mind bend.
A tail of two teams. My Os have a heck of a record so far. Is their rotation top shelf? Heck no! But it’s healthy and other than Braddish taking one off the toe in April, healthy all season. Kremer, Braddish and Wells are holding their own. Stay healthy guys, please.
Teams like the Dodgers and Yankees with dl infested rotations manage to have winning records. SP can only get healthier for both. As a non fan of either, scary to think about.
The injuries have been brutal, true. But these things happen over the course of a season, and the decisions made in the offseason make dealing with the problem either easier or more difficult. In this case, harder. First, was taking a flyer on Syndergaard. Technically he’s injured but we all know why he’s really on the IL. Second was not signing another quality starter. Even if Syndergaard had been serviceable they still needed that. Third, no swingman in the pen who can make spot starts. Fourth, relying on untried prospects for depth. They were really banking on everything going perfectly right, which almost never happens.
The O’s are my team this year. Although they started getting sloppy recently.