Right as the Dodgers are about to begin Spring Training Competition, Clayton Kershaw has been scrubbed from all pitching – at least for a couple of days, after he reported feeling discomfort while throwing live batting practice.
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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Not a good sign, Dodger Fans.
Bad timing, just after that rediculously HUGE contract extension. Why these owners lock themselves into these crazy guaranteed contracts, is beyond me. But, that is another story.
Maybe this is nothing to worry about…. I hope so. DR seems concerned, even though he says he is not. Knowing Kershaw, he is a perfectionist. Really too hard on himself, as he struggles to prove his worth. He puts way too much weight on his shoulders. You can see it during games, when he outwardly displays his frustrations after tossing a bad pitch and surrendering a dinger.
Like last year, he tends to hide things, and does not let it be known that he is not 100%, physically… will not admit he is hurting.
If he is truely hurt, and shut down, it will be up to Urias, Ferguson, or Stripling to step up their games to fill the void. There are no real reliable starting pitchers in the F/A market, since Friedman and ownership sat on their wallets, way too optimistic that Kershaw would be able to resurrect his form and maintain his reign as the “Ace” of the staff. Buehler will have to step up and be the new “Ace”.
Here we go again, and the season has not even started.
Oy. This is worse than reading Breitbart. It’s total fake news.
He’s not sore! Nobody reported he was sore.
JFC, Kershaw told Roberts he was discouraged (wasn’t happy) with his session throwing live batting practice on Monday after two sharp bullpen sessions that opened camp last week.
Discouraged does not, by definition, imply injury, exhaustion or physical discomfort.
Grrrr.
I don’t want to get into arguments or even discussions about this. Can someone delete this comment and the above one?
Delete seems to have been, er, um, deleted.
Not sure who is left on the FA market but since the youngsters can still use a bit of time to develop their craft, It might mean that Dodgers should protect themselves then and trade for an experienced starter. Kluber would of perhaps been an ideal fit but I understand the asking price might have been just a tad way too high
Not sure of remaining available FA pitchers but a trade might be a good idea in this case for an experienced arm so the pressure to fill shoes for CK does not fall on the youngsters still developing their craft. Kluber would have been a great fit IMHO but I realize the asking price was beyond reach.
Yup, Paul,
Price for Klubber was way out of reach, BECAUSE they committed all that money to Clayton.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Kershaw “BUT” I just feel that he was guaranteed way too much money, after injuries and so-so playoff performances. He really put his team in a bad spot, to possibly get some legitimate, badly needed pitching insurance.
I just do not think he will be able to pitch effectively, after back and shoulder injuries, to justify his monster contract extension.
Clayton should have just played out his original contract out of good faith to the team, or just opted out if he was looking for more money. He had a great contract, and I am sure living very comfortably. To expect and accept more millions is nothing more than greed. He was making well enough, that taking many millions more was not going to change his life. Unfortuneatly, now days, these players have Deep Pockets, and no real accountability to their team, or their fans.
Bluto
Agree with you, I thought the same thing as you.
Bluto,
Some gentle advice for the next time you want to refer to my reporting as fake news:
Take a minute before hitting the keyboard with your blowtorch.
You were partially right – nobody reported Kershaw was sore. Including me.
Listen to my reporting carefully.
I said he reported to Roberts that he “didn’t feel right” after his pitching session. That is a direct quote from Kershaw himself.
Later in the report I said the best case scenario is Kershaw needs some time off after throwing and feeling normally sore.
Listen carefully Part 2. The quote about dead arm came from Roberts himself. I didn’t imply Kershaw is injured. I ran through best and wort case scenarios.
If you don’t wish to listen or read my reports carefully, take a deep breath before calling my work “worse than Breitbart”. That would probably help your stress and blood pressure levels. At LADR, we care about our readers. Have a nice day.
Oscar, I responded too quickly and if I could have deleted that post I would have.
I do think you jumped to conclusions and kinda made a tempest out of a teapot, but I think my post was a bit over the top.
Yeah Bluto…. Breitbart? Low blow man.
But I do think that we have no idea what this means, which frankly I took as your point.
This board, in particular, needs some kind of moderation. Personal attacks on posters, players, team, and FO/ownership, should be eliminated or deleted because of language and just plain courtesy to other posters who are not so inflamed. Scott needs to do something about this. He seems afraid to say anything.
Not afraid at all Jeff. I’m actually going to delete the post. I’ve just been super busy with non baseball related things lately. Trust me I’ll be handling it
Thank you, Scott. Cleaning up this board’s comments and having standards that posters must respect, can only enhance the content and make it more attractive for more posters to join.
Maybe now they can take the kid gloves off Urias.
Stripling not healthy either. Looks like there is room for another dumpster dive.
Way to early for a panic attack. A lot of pitchers go through this kind of thing early in camp. Kershaw has been working out for quite a while so in all probability he is in that dead arm period. I would not worry about it until mid March. If he is still having problems then, ok, panic city.
Man, what Bluto said was nothing compared to the threats left up here a while back. I thought the Breitbart comment was kinda funny. As is the dumpster dive reference by Yueh. Bluto sort of apologized.
I agree with Bear and Bluto. Too early to panic. But personally I don’t think it’s too early for concern. Kershaw has shown his frailties the last few years. We all hope he can pitch…. for the next 3 years. If he can’t we can watch Mackenzie Gore down in San Diego go against Urias. They look like the next great left handers in this Division. Time does march on doesn’t it.
While you’re at Scott, then you need to delete cheap shot, veiled political comments as well, if you really want to take the attacks by posters. It all adds to the level of flamage in here. Either do it all or do none of it.
I’ll be deleting political posts too.
Why is everyone running to Scott? Police yourselves. Remember that our support for the team is what brought us to the ladodgerreport team. Remember that we are all super fans, because we take our passion online and other places, rather than just watching on TV. Everyone here can speak intelligently on the state of the team. Nothing bluto said was offensive. However he is not the editor of this site. Everyone try and have a nice day. Have a late day cup of tea and relax.
Yikes. Seriously. This is all a tempest in a teapot. I wish I could have deleted my response, it was a little over the top.
Obviously, Breitbart was a joke. If calling it a fake news site is political, we need to do some serious re-evaluations. This is an LA blog, right?
Do I wish people wouldn’t call Roberts a dummy? Sure, but we can live with it. Do I wish some silly attempts at humor around team announcements didn’t happen over and over? Sure, but we can live with it. Do I wish that Michael and I thought about things in similar manners? Sure, but we can live with it.
Do I wish that a certain poster didn’t always make an ass out of himself, yes but I can live with it. I have to live with stupid things like CNN and MSNBC and their total BS biased reporting but I can live with it.
No you don’t have to live with it. You have choices with what biased news reports you watch. As do the other posters here when it comes to reading or ignoring posts that show bias or call other posters names. You continue to do both True.
Kemp hit a 2 run homer yesterday for the Reds. Puig was 0-2 and Farmer was 1-1 with a run scoring double. The Dodgers offense was good until the regulars went out of the game. The kids came in and the BP almost gave the game away. But Allie was impressive. 3 outs on 5 pitches. Dodgers-Angels today. Angels put 11 on the Giants yesterday. Pollock will get his first spring start. Seager will be hitting on the back fields for a while. Bellinger being held out with a back issue. Martin and Barnes had back to back doubles yesterday, and Barnes, looking more like the 2017 version also had an opposite field single. Kike scorched a couple to left, and Pederson hit the Dodgers first spring bomb.
Very happy to see that the catchers produced some hits and runs! This will be a key position to monitor. And, I see my prediction of 2B starter going to Kike, is alive and possible.
The reports on Lux look glowing. Everyone predicting a solid MLB career. Great news.
And, of course, Joc, who as I’ve said all along, is good for the HR leading off and not much else. Some people will take that and be satisfied. Me? I want a contact hitter and speed on the bases. More rbi’s for Seager/Turner/Muncy, etc.
Verdugo? The jury will be out on him for quite some time. Me? If there is a trade to be had, throw him in for a proven vet OF or a SP. But I think our starting pitching, barring injuries, will be solid.
Pederson hit his homer in his second at bat. I want to see how he adjusts during the spring before I pass judgement. Let us see if the improvements he made last year stick. Listened to Alanna’s interview in game with Kike. Like I said he looked pretty good in his at bats. Interesting was that according to him, he has been working with assistant batting coach Brent Brown, not Von Scoyoc and working on his bottom half. Seems the coaching staff felt he did not have a solid foundation when hitting. Jefe, Lux went into the game yesterday and he made an error in the 9th that extended the inning. Had he made that play, Spitzbarth would have gotten out of the inning. No matter, then ended up winning anyway. Quackenbush gave up the first run, and Smoker gave up a 2 run homer. Until the 9th that was it.
Well, it looks like Kasten and Dummy2 make all the personnel decisions according to Mark Walter and there is no directive to https://start.att.net/news/read/article/los_angeles_times-dodgers_had_no_directive_to_stay_under_luxury_tax-tca/category/Newsstaystay under the cap. Told ya they lie.
Scott
Have you deleted my comment today?
I got a chance to read it before it disappeared pack.
I didn’t find it offensive, though I could do without the name calling. To continue to call Roberts Dummy seems silly to me, but you are of course entitled to your opinion. He went to UCLA and has done very well for himself. Not the path of a dummy. I know this for a fact. I have experience with the path of a dummy. I had opportunity to go to UCLA and play baseball but I joined the Marines instead. I know dummy. I have met dummy and he is me.
The article you posted. It was about Kasten and Friedman constructing the roster, correct?
Badger
That was my opinion. There was no cussing or crude words used. Does that mean that when I read something I do not agree that it will be deleted? I think not. I am sorry that some do not like what I write but shouldn’t posters be able to give differing opinions without it being deleted? Maybe some that complained should have their opinions and information be deleted?
I’m not remotely suggesting censorship pack. I hope you would know me better than that by now. By all means you should speak your mind. When I don’t agree I’ll say so. I don’t agree that Roberts is a dummy.
No Pack, haven’t deleted any of your comments. New posting guidelines don’t go into effect until March 1. Take a look at the new guidelines.
Well, it looks like there was not a directive to keep the Dodgers from going over the luxury tax threshold. Looks like Friedman and Kasten made another lousy decision to not obtain quality Free Agents. In this case it was not the owners.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers-mark-walter-20190224-story.html
If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.