I can give you a dozen reasons why it would be a good idea for 33-year-old (now) Dodgers free-agent left-hander Clayton Kershaw to sign with the Texas Rangers, the least of which is that he would be much closer to his Dallas home. In fact, I can come up with only one reason why the three-time Cy Young Award winner, eight-time All-Star, five-time ERA leader, former Gold Glove winner, former MLB MVP and Player of the Year, and 2020 World Series Champion shouldn’t sign with the Rangers – because all of his 14 MLB seasons have been as a Dodger, and the mere thought of him playing for any other team just feels wrong – period.

There is no disputing that Kershaw’s best days are behind him. But there is also no disputing that the future first-ballot Hall of Famer and Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2007 out of Highland Park High School in University Park, TX still has ‘plenty of gas left in the tank,’ as they say.

The problem, of course, is that Kershaw has experienced left elbow and shoulder issues throughout his 14 seasons in Dodger Blue, especially during the just-concluded 2021 season, which ended abruptly for Kershaw on October 1, when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was forced to remove him after only 2.1 innings for what was called “forearm discomfort.”

As a result of Kershaw’s season-ending “forearm discomfort,” there are (or at least were) many who believed that Kershaw was Tommy John surgery-bound during the 2021 off-season. However, Kershaw himself has repeatedly said that he does not need nor is he planning to have the surgery, which, as we all know, takes a full season to recover from.

Per Baseball_Reference, Kershaw has made (approximately) $257,701,142 during his 14 seasons as a Dodger. In other words, it’s not about the money, as his children’s children’s children are financially set for life. That said, it is very much about years – as in length of contract – moving forward for the second greatest left-hander in Dodgers history.

It is probably safe to say that Andrew Friedman isn’t particularly enamored with the idea of offering his 33-year-old now free-agent lefty a long-term deal. In fact, the Dodgers President of Baseball Operations, who is arguably the best in the business, recently declined to give Kershaw an $18.4 million Qualifying Offer. However, Friedman made it abundantly clear that he would very much like to bring Kershaw back for a 15th season – as a Dodger:

“We’ve made it very clear that if Kersh wants to come back, he will always have a spot with what he’s meant to this organization, not just looking back but with what we think he can do for us next year.

“I know he wants to take a little time with Ellen and figure out what’s best for them and also, more importantly, get to a point where he feels good health-wise. We have no reason to believe that he won’t. This would’ve accelerated the timeline.

“I think just with our respect for him and for what he’s done for this organization, [a Qualifying Offer] wasn’t something that we wanted to do and put him on that kind of clock when he wasn’t ready for it.”

It has been widely reported (ad nauseam) that Kershaw has been ‘in talks’ with the Texas Rangers who, of course, play their home games at Globe Life Field in Arlington a very short 20 miles from Dallas. And with two of Clayton and Ellen’s three kids now of school age, it is beyond understandable that he would prefer to play – and perhaps finish out his career – closer to home than Dodger Stadium. Then again, Kershaw has, on several occasions, hinted that he would very much like to do as his close friend and the greatest left-hander in Dodgers history Sandy Koufax did – retire as a Dodger. So, there’s that.

All of this said, when asked what his plans for the future were just prior to the 2021 postseason, Kershaw gave a (very) Kershaw-like answer:

“I’ve said this before, my future is going to take care of itself. I’m not really worried about that right now. I really wanted to be a part of the moment right now and I wanted to be with this group going through October.

“That was my only focus this whole year once I got hurt, was to come back and make up for it this month. So that’s the hard part right now, knowing it’s going to be a challenge to contribute at all this next month.

“As far as anything else goes, I haven’t really wrapped my head around it and I don’t plan to anytime soon. I’m just excited to watch these guys.”

Play Ball, Clayton.

…as a Dodger.

Please?

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