Clayton Kershaw May Not Be A Dodger Much Longer

For a man who has spent his entire MLB career with the Dodgers it would be surprising to see them get rid of him so quickly. Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw was on the 15-day disabled list on June 30th for a herniated disk and he might be one of the unlucky individuals that has to have surgery to correct the problem.

The Dodgers are sitting at second in the National League West standings at 53 – 43, four losses behind the San Francisco Giants. 11 of those wins belong to Kershaw and he’s only recorded two losses this season, and the Dodgers are 14 – 2 with Kershaw starts and are 39 – 41 when he doesn’t start.

Kershaw leads the league in ERA with 1.79 and 145 strikeouts in 121 innings. Now that he may be out for the remainder of the year the Dodgers will have to reevaluate their trade plans. If the Dodgers want to keep hope alive for playoffs they may need to trade him.

Business is business no matter what he has done for the club.

According to ESPN the Dodgers should finalize a July trade and cut ties with Kershaw.

Without Kershaw the Dodgers have been rotating through Brandon McCarthy, Kenta Maeda, Scott Kazmir, Julio Urias from the Dodger’s Oklahoma City farm team and Bud Norris who the Dodgers acquired from the Atlanta Braves.

McCarthy has an ERA of 1.69 but has only played three games this season. The next closest to Kershaw is Maeda with an ERA of 3.25 and he is 8  – 7.

Possible considerations for Kershaw are Oakland A’s pitcher Sonny Gray or Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Chris Archer. Gray is 4 – 8 with an ERA of 5.12 and Archer is 5 – 13 with an ERA of 4.60. The trade would be a step up for either pitcher as both of their respective teams are at the bottom of their divisions. As good as it would be for them it wouldn’t be the same as the Dodgers having Kershaw.

The Dodgers have excellent farm teams, and having already pulled up Urias they could still get Grant Holmes, pitcher from Rancho Cucamonga A-Advance team. There are a couple other good prospect from the Oklahoma City AAA team in pitchers Jose De Leon, and Frankie Montas but they have been struggling to stay healthy, not what the Dodgers need right now.

Many options available and still ten days to figure out how to replace their best pitcher.

Article by Lindsey Horsting