Friday, November 15, 2013

The State of Clayton Kershaw

The back page of today's LA Times sports section.

From "Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw in special company with Sandy Koufax " by Bill Shaikin at the LA TImes:

Kershaw said there have been no contract talks since the season ended.

"Right now, I'm in L.A. for one more year, regardless," he said. "That's as far as I look."

He said he loves L.A., and he believes the Dodgers can win the World Series. But he declined to make the one declaration the Dodgers and their fans would most love to hear. He would not say L.A. was his first choice.

The Dodgers might be funded by Big Insurance, but the Texas Rangers are funded by Big Oil. The Rangers have Yu Darvish but have also called the likes of C.J. Wilson and Colby Lewis their ace in recent years, so no doubt they would jump at the chance to bring Kershaw home. The Dodgers could sign Masahiro Tanaka, trade for David Price, and consider themselves insured against a Kershaw departure.

It was four years ago that Jamie McCourt was calling herself the face of the Dodgers. Since then, that billing has gone to Magic, and Gonzalez and Matt Kemp.

The true face of the Dodgers is the face of unparalleled accountability, work ethic and leadership. The face of the Dodgers is the guy who leaves next week to visit the orphanage he and his wife built in Zambia. The face of the Dodgers is the distinguished gentleman and worthy heir to Koufax.

Let us hope the Kershaw story is not entitled "Legacy, Interrupted."

When a smart veteran reporter like Shaikin wonders out loud if Kershaw intends to stay with the Dodgers, I start to worry. In the meanwhile, let's enjoy Kershaw while we have him.

2 comments:

Fred's Brim said...

FB no likey the tone of this

Dusty Baker said...

He ain't going anywhere. He just can't say anything that would reduce his leverage in contract talks.