Thirty-three-year-old Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, of this you can be sure. But you can also be sure that the Dallas, TX native and Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2006 out of Highland Park High School in University Park, TX, is nowhere near the same pitcher that won three Cy Young Awards, was an eight-time All-Star, a National League MVP and Player of the Year, a Triple Crown winner, a five-time ERA champion, and a Gold Glove winner.

Add to this the fact that Kershaw missed two and a half months of the 2021 regular season and the entire 2021 postseason due to elbow and shoulder injuries, and you have to question whether or not the Dodgers want to – or should – re-sign the now free-agent left-hander – Hall of Fame notwithstanding.

Although Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman told reporters on Tuesday at the just-concluded General Managers meetings in Carlsbad, California that Kershaw will always have a place on the Dodgers roster if he wants one, the brutally painfully truth is that, again, Kershaw is nowhere near the pitcher that he once was, and that bringing him back – if he is even healthy enough to come back to begin what would be his 15th major league season – could amount to little more than burning a very valuable roster spot.

“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,” Friedman said on Tuesday. “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.”

Again, no one wants to hear that it may be time for Kershaw to hang up his cleats, but, again, it may be the painfully brutal truth that perhaps he should; and no one knows that more than Clayton Kershaw himself.

But what if he chooses not to retire and instead takes Friedman up on his offer of “…always [having] a spot…” on the Dodgers roster? What kind of price tag would that bring?

Putting all emotions aside for a second, the fact that Friedman didn’t even offer Kershaw an $18.4 million Qualifying Offer and the fact that Kershaw made $31 million for his injury-plagued 2021 season – the final year of his three-year / $93 million contract – suggests that the Cooperstown-bound lefty would probably have to give Friedman and the Dodgers what is often referred to as “a hometown discount.”

But to what end? How much is too much and how long is too long?

The obvious answer – if there is such a thing – is that Friedman would more than likely offer Kershaw an incentive-laden contract, perhaps based on innings pitched, wins, ERA, and strikeouts, of which he currently has 2,670 over his 14-year MLB career – all of them as a Dodger.

As of this writing and to our knowledge there has been no word from the Kershaw camp or any further word from Friedman and the Dodgers on this matter – or if such talks have even begun in earnest yet.

Stay tuned…

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