Dodgers ‘closing the door’ on Clayton Kershaw pitching in 2024

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers are “closing the door” on Clayton Kershaw pitching again in 2024, Dave Roberts said Saturday.

Kershaw has not pitched since leaving his Aug. 30 start in Arizona with pain in his left foot. The pain is being caused by bone spurs and ligament damage. But Kershaw had been continuing to throw, trying orthotics and different cleats to try to relieve the pain. He even threw an approximately 80-pitch bullpen session during the Dodgers’ series in Miami near the end of the regular season.

“It was getting pretty mentally exhausting to continue to pitch,” Kershaw said Saturday. “It just kept hurting so I got another MRI. And I made it worse. So there’s no point at this point to keep going.

“It’s unfortunate. I mean, obviously, super frustrated but, yeah, it’s not getting better so I can’t pitch.”

Kershaw said he had to give himself “a chance” at pitching in the postseason but repeated “I probably made this worse – but I had to try.”

The toe problem has plagued Kershaw for some years. This most recent stretch was “more acute, a little different” and might require surgery during the offseason if Kershaw wants to pitch in 2025.

“It’s definitely in the conversation,” he said. “I haven’t solidified anything yet. But there’s a chance that I might need to fix it, yeah.”

Kershaw had surgery last offseason to address a shoulder injury and didn’t make his 2024 debut until July 25. He made seven starts for the Dodgers, going 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 30 innings. He is 32 strikeouts short of 3,000 in his career. Only 19 pitchers in baseball history have struck out 3,000 or more.

Kershaw’s incentive-laden contract paid him just $7.5 million this season and includes a player option for 2025. The 36-year-old would not talk about his plans for next season.

“I’ll talk about it after the season,” he said. “Right now, I think the focus should be trying to beat the Padres and that’s what I’m thinking. I’m gonna try and be a good cheerleader as best I can.

“But yeah, we’ll think about it. The offseason comes quick.”

Kershaw said he does feel healthy – except for the big toe on his left foot.

“Yeah, my shoulder feels great. My back feels great. All that stuff,” he said. “Look, I don’t know. Obviously I don’t want to get hurt all the time. Like, it’s not fun to do that But I also really love to pitch, too. So you just have to weigh everything. I’ll talk to Ellen (his wife) and figure it out. We’ll see how it goes.”

FREEMAN STATUS

Hours before Game 1, Roberts was asked if Freddie Freeman would be in the starting lineup.

“I’m still hopeful – maybe not as hopeful as I was yesterday,” Roberts said.

Freeman said his injured right ankle was “sore” after he went through a full workout for the first time Friday. But it improved as he received treatment during the day Saturday and he was in the lineup when it came up.

Roberts acknowledged that Freeman’s mobility will be watched carefully. Replacing him with a pinch-runner or defensive replacement in a close game will definitely be considered.

ROSTER CHOICES

The Dodgers announced their roster for the NLDS on Saturday morning. It included four rookies – pitchers Landon Knack, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the biggest surprise, Edgardo Henriquez, as well as outfielder Andy Pages.

Henriquez made his big-league debut just 11 days ago and pitched only 3⅓ innings before making the roster. A spot became available when veteran reliever Joe Kelly came down with a sore shoulder again after pitching in a simulated game this week.

“Joe Kelly, his last pitch in a simulated game, throwing a change-up, he felt something in his shoulder. So that kind of put him out of the conversation,” Roberts said. “That was really disappointing, obviously, for Joe. He’s just not even viable being such a big piece of this and what he’s done in past postseasons.”

Kelly will not be an option again until a potential World Series roster, Roberts said. He spent time on the injured list with shoulder inflammation during the regular season as well.

GAME TWO

Right-hander Jack Flaherty will start Game 2 on Sunday. Over his last two regular-season starts, Flaherty’s fastball velocity was down – just 91.8 mph against the Miami Marlins on Sept. 19 and again Sept. 25 against the Padres, compared to a season average of 93.3 mph.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the drop was due to “a little bit of delivery stuff that I know Connor (McGuinness, assistant pitching coach) and Mark (Prior, pitching coach) and BMac (Brandon McDaniel, vice president for player performance) have been attacking.

“Jack’s great. He gets it, gets after it,” Friedman said. “He feels really confident that his delivery is in a really good place.”

Flaherty said he was less concerned with recovering velocity and more concerned with his command of all of his pitches.

“The velocity is going to be whatever it is,” he said. “It just comes down to executing. But we just put in the work over the week and try to figure some things out. Just try to be more consistent more than anything. Gotta locate the ball and spin the ball the way I want to.”