Left-hander Clayton Kershaw officially rejoined the Los Angeles Dodgers for his 18th season after the club made his latest one-year deal official Thursday.
Kershaw, who turns 37 next month, is set to earn $7.5 million during the upcoming season with multiple roster and games-started bonuses that are worth an additional $8.5 million.
According to FanSided, Kershaw can receive $1 million bonuses for 13, 14, 15 and 16 starts, as well as 60 days and 90 days on the active roster. There is a $2.5 million bonus available for his first 30 days on the active roster.
Kershaw, who already had been working out with the team in Arizona this week, announced in November that he had undergone foot and knee surgeries and planned to start a rehabilitation program to return in 2025.
It is unclear when Kershaw will be ready for the active roster, but the World Series champion Dodgers can afford to allow him to return at his own pace.
They enter spring with the possibility of six starting pitchers: two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May, both of whom are returning from injury. Shohei Ohtani, who didn’t pitch last season after elbow surgery, could be back on the mound as early as late April, according to manager Dave Roberts.
The past few seasons, Roberts has held his oft-injured pitching staff together with duct tape and a constant shuttle to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Kershaw’s return could give Roberts the rare luxury of an extra arm and the packed pitching staff also could allow him to limit Kershaw’s workload.
Kershaw was limited to seven games in 2024 coming off left shoulder surgery in the offseason.
He made his season debut on July 25 and pitched 30 innings before reporting damage to his toe, which turned out to be a ruptured plantar plate and arthritis in his left foot.
The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner and 2014 NL MVP didn’t pitch in the postseason. He has been a mainstay in the Dodgers’ rotation, spending his entire MLB career in Los Angeles.
Kershaw has a career record of 212-94 with a 2.50 ERA in 432 games (429 starts). His 15 career shutouts are the most among active pitchers.
He also has 2,968 career regular-season strikeouts, putting him 32 away from becoming the 20th pitcher in MLB history to hit the 3,000 mark.
