After a busy week that noticed Clayton Kershaw return for a seventeenth (and probably 18th) season with the Dodgers, who additionally signed Ryan Brasier, listed here are some information and notes from the previous few days.
Kershaw's rematch with Los Angeles gave Jay Jaffe at FanGraphs an opportunity to have a look at how a lot the Dodgers' beginning rotation has modified since final 12 months, in addition to analyze how issues and Kershaw's performances have down after his shoulder damage final 12 months.
“Given their star energy and depth, the Dodgers don't must hold Kershaw to be heavy favorites to win the Nationwide League West,” Jaffe wrote. “Whereas it was not important from a aggressive perspective, it’s nonetheless a little bit of continuity preserved within the face of modifications.”
Andy McCullough has a brand new ebook about Kershaw popping out in Could, titled “The Final of His Variety.” He shared an excerpt from the ebook this week at The Athletic, for the reason that Dodgers drafted Kershaw with the seventh choose of the primary spherical within the 2006 MLB Draft, with slightly assist in the type of Luke Hochevar, Andrew Miller and the Pittsburgh Pirates. : :
Early within the season, Kershaw thought Pittsburgh may choose him. The workforce had emailed him a battery of questions, a standard apply on the time. His eyes lit up throughout the questionnaire. “Most likely in the direction of the tip of them, it was simply, like, click on, click on, click on,” he recalled. Throughout a pre-project assembly, the pirates officers informed him that he had failed the examination. “They mentioned I had conflicting solutions,” Kershaw recalled. “Sorry. What would you like me to do? I'm not going to take it again.” (The Dodgers took a unique strategy with their go to. White by no means got here to Kershaw's dwelling. Calvin Jones made a short pitch. After exchanging pleasantries, he requested if Kershaw would signal if the Dodgers chosen him within the first spherical. Kershaw mentioned he would. Jones thanked the household for his or her time and left. The assembly lasted 5 minutes, Kershaw estimated. “I used to be like, 'Wow, you bought it.' , he recalled.)
Walker Buehler, who he threw a bullpen session to Camelback Ranch on Fridayturned a father final week when he and his spouse McKenzie welcomed daughter Finley Wren Buehler into the world.
Buehler additionally spoke to Dylan Hernández of the Los Angeles Instances on Saturday about getting back from his second Tommy John surgical procedure and balancing that together with his pending free company after the season.
“The remainder of your profession, no less than for me, relies on me being wholesome and productive this 12 months,” Buehler informed Hernández. “In order that's clearly my focus.”
JJ Cooper at Baseball America wrote in regards to the discount of home minor league rosters earlier this 12 months, from 190 gamers within the offseason and 180 gamers within the season, all the way down to 175 and 165 gamers, respectively. This was a part of the primary collective bargaining settlement between MLB and minor league gamers, which we signed in March 2023.
The thrust of Baseball America's piece is about how laborious it’s for veterans to seek out minor league provides with invites to stay with out rosters, however Cooper additionally included this nugget that might assist lighten issues up a bit subsequent month:
Every workforce is allowed to maneuver as much as 15 gamers to the MiLB 60-day injured listing in mid-March. These 60-day IL gamers don’t rely towards the roster restrict till they’re activated off that roster. Within the case of most groups, there are a selection of gamers, particularly pitchers rehabbing from Tommy John surgical procedures, who’re assured to go on 60-day IL as quickly as they’re eligible to take action.
Earlier this week on the Three-Inning Save podcast, we regarded again at catcher Kevin Pasley, who caught for the Dodgers within the mid-Nineteen Seventies and holds that distinction, courtesy of the bullpen wiki of Baseball Referenece: “Solely two gamers in lengthy, lengthy baseball historical past have the excellence of belting a house run of their final large league at bat and having their uniform quantity retired. The primary participant to perform these feats The one one is baseball legend Ted Williams. The second? Kevin Pasley.
It seems to be like a couple of native ballpark meals from Dodger Stadium and Petco Park will probably be making their option to Seoul for each Dodgers-Padres video games in South Korea on March 20-21, per Naver Sports activities.
