Clayton Kershaw plans to pitch in 2025

Clayton Kershaw was forced to watch the Dodgers' playoff run from the dugout because of bone spurs in his left big toe, capping an injury-ravaged season in which he pitched a career-low 30 innings. Despite these obstacles, Kershaw told the Fox Sports pregame team today (video link) that he plans to return for his 18th major league season.

Regarding the shoulder surgery he underwent last November, Kershaw said: “I want to take advantage of this operation, you know? I don't want to have surgery and cancel it. So I'll come back next year and try it and see how it goes.” While he uses his bone spurs as “some bad luck” Kershaw said differently: “My shoulder and my elbow, everything, my arm, feels great.”

Injuries have been an ever-present part of Kershaw's history over the past few seasons, and he openly considered retiring before ultimately deciding to continue pitching in general and continue pitching for the Dodgers. With a 4.50 ERA over his 30 frames in his age-36 season, this was the first time Kershaw had shown a decline in performance due to his health concerns – although he was limited to 258 innings during the 2022–23 season Kershaw still had a 2.37 ERA and was an All-Star in both campaigns.

Kershaw gave no indication whether further surgery might be needed to treat his bone spurs, although that could be the logical course of action for what appears to be a longer-term problem. (Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said in August that Kershaw had been struggling with the bone spurs for several years.) Until we know whether or not such a procedure is even needed, it's too early to say whether Kershaw when might be fully ready The Dodgers begin their spring training camp in February. His shoulder rehabilitation delayed his 2024 debut until July 25.

While recovering from shoulder surgery, Kershaw delayed his next contract until February 2024, when he returned to the Dodgers with a two-year, $10 million guarantee. Specifically, the contract is a $5 million deal for the 2024 season and then a player option of at least $5 million for 2025, which Kershaw is expected to exercise. Under the terms of the contract, Kershaw earned an additional $2.5 million in salary in 2024 and an additional $5 million toward his player option, so he will now save an additional $10 million by exercising his player option. It's possible that Kershaw and the Dodgers will work out some sort of extension to secure that salary and consider another option for 2026 to give both sides flexibility if Kershaw wants to continue playing for another season.

Although Kershaw could still win a World Series ring in a few weeks, it's not surprising that he isn't considering ending his career on the low end of a 30-inning season. He even had a 2.63 ERA in his first five starts before allowing eight runs in the final six innings, presumably as renewed trouble with his toe began to affect his performance. If Kershaw can stay as healthy as possible for a 37-year-old pitcher with his injury history, it's not hard to imagine he can still provide quality production.

After dealing with a mountain of pitching injuries this season, the Dodgers technically have a full complement of options for 2025, even if every available arm has some level of health concerns. As The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya noted, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman explained over the weekend that the team may use a six-man rotation to keep everyone healthy and provide more rest Shohei Ohtani And Yoshinobu Yamamoto special. Ohtani did not pitch in 2024 due to UCL surgery and of course has the added workload of his DH duties, while the Dodgers have kept Yamamoto on the Japanese pitching schedule with at least five days of rest.

Between this duo and Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow missed the end of the season and the playoffs due to a strained elbow, Tony Gonsolin did not pitch in 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, and Dustin May was unable to pitch in 2024 as he recovered from two arm procedures in July 2023 and neck surgery in July of this year. Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleskiand view Jackson Ferris are other arms that should be part of the rotation mix. It also stands to reason that LA will certainly add another pitcher or two this offseason to protect this group from further injuries.