Cody Snavely
The Los Angeles Dodgers have officially announced the re-signing of three-time National League Cy Young Award winner and 2014 National League Most Valuable Player left-hander Clayton Kershaw to a 1-year $7.5 million contract for the 2025 season. River Ryan was transferred to the 60-day Injured List to make room on the roster.
The contract also includes numerous incentives and escalators, including an additional $1 million for making his 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th starts of the season. The deal also contains active roster bonuses; he’ll add an additional $2.5 million for 30 days on the active roster, $1 million for 60 days, and $1 million for 90 days.
The reunion will begin Kershaw’s eighteenth Major League season, tying him with Bill Russell and Hall of Famer Zack Wheat for the most in Dodger history. The lefty will rejoin a Dodger team looking to add to his already Hall of Fame-worthy resume.
Kershaw missed most of the 2024 regular season as the southpaw recovered from offseason shoulder surgery, an injury that plagued him during the second half of the 2023 season. However, even after his return, the 36-year-old struggled to stay on the mound, dealing with a toe and knee injury.
After making his regular season debut in July last season at Dodger Stadium against their National League West rival, the San Francisco Giants, the lefty would only make six more starts, pitching to a 4.50 ERA in thirty innings.
After a disastrous start in Phoenix, Arizona, against the Arizona Diamondbacks, in which Kershaw surrendered three runs in one inning, the lefty would land on the 15-day Injured List with a nagging toe injury.
Eventually, the injury would be season-ending, leaving Kershaw off the Dodgers postseason roster in October, absent from the team as they embarked on their championship run, defeating the New York Yankees in five games during the Fall Classic.
After the conclusion of the World Series, Kershaw would undergo offseason surgery in back-to-back years. One, to address his toe — there’s more damage than the bone spurs, including a ruptured plantar plate. The second is to repair the meniscus in his left knee. His return date is to-be-determined.
Kershaw will enter his 18th season and is only thirty-two strikeouts away from joining the illustrious 3000 strikeout club. Despite the age and injuries, Kershaw has been elite when healthy, posting a 2.46 ERA during the 2023 season.
Kershaw has a career 2.50 ERA and a combined 79.4 bWAR, which is the most of any Dodgers player in team history, in both Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Kershaw, who spoke with the media today, said he expects to start the season on the 60-day Injured List, but his timeline likely lines up for him to be ready once those 60 days are done.
Once he returns, he’ll join a star-studded Dodgers roster in their quest to become the first repeat champions in over twenty years. But in the meantime, he’ll try to get healthy and be back by mid-season.
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