Clayton Kershaw says this, medical staff says that – making sense of Kershaw’s possible return to the field.
With all the issues that have circled the Los Angeles Dodgers from their television deal to the wild story of how Yasiel Puig made it out of Cuba too the injuries early on, any type of good news right now cannot go untouched – so we will cut to the chase.
Clayton Kershaw, after a solid outing at Class A-Rancho Cucamonga – Friday night (5 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 6 K, 1 BB) – may not make another rehab start and graduate straight to the big leagues – reportedly.
Kershaw, who has not seen a major league mound since his dominating March 22 performance in Australia, hit the DL immediately after with a strained teres major muscle in his left shoulder. After the MRI showed the strain, it was reported that Kershaw was likely out till mid-May, but it is being reported by ESPN’s Mark Saxon that Kershaw’s timetable may bump up a couple weeks.
Here’s where the issue begins – Kershaw says he feels great and finds a second rehab start to be completely unnecessary but the medical staff is pushing on the side of caution and wants to see another start in the rehabilitation process. Manager Don Mattingly has said that he expects Kershaw to make at least one more rehab start in either AA-Chattanooga or AAA-Albuquerque – so the debate begins on what exactly is the next move for the 2x Cy Young winner.
Clearly the Dodgers don’t want to take any chances with their $215 million investment – if another rehab start is necessary in the eyes of the medical staff then one more start around the farm is what is needed. Kershaw has always been a competitive dream – he has down played situations just to get back on the field and he has worn his emotions on his sleeve when in disagreement with a Mattingly decision. However, this one may be out of Kershaw’s control. A return to the field even two weeks early could prove to be costly for the team moving forward.
If Kershaw does make a return to the field this week, it’s could either come Thursday in Minnesota – replacing Josh Beckett – or Friday in Miami – replacing the struggling Paul Maholm. One thing we know for sure is behind Zach Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu the remaining pitchers have question marks.
Dan Haren is pitching well at 3-0, but is one wrong move away from back on the DL. Beckett, minus the record, is in the same scenario as Haren. As for Maholm, his last outing against the Phillies – albeit facing Cliff Lee – really put doubt in the eyes of Mattingly and his coaches about how much he can give the Dodgers as a member of the starting rotation. The Dodgers ace [Kershaw] is well needed for the success of this franchise in 2014, but rushing a return isn’t going to help anything. At 14-11, second place in NL West – there is plenty of room for Kershaw to take his time getting back and only once he is 100%.
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