Dodgers Dugout: Where is Clayton Kershaw?

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell and it is only 27 days until pitchers and catcher report for spring training.

In the last newsletter, we discussed a projected Dodgers roster. Many of you had one question: Why didn’t I list Clayton Kershaw on the roster?

My apologies to those who were confused. Kershaw was discussed in a previous newsletter. Let’s go over it again, and this won’t change for a while, so put it in your memory banks for easy retrieval.

Kershaw is a free agent who had shoulder surgery in the offseason. Specifically, to repair the Glenohumeral ligaments.

He won’t be ready to come back until the middle of the season. And sometime before that, he has to decide if he wants to sign with the Dodgers, Texas, or retire. And he probably would retire only if his shoulder doesn’t recover from the surgery.

He could make a decision on who to sign with tomorrow, or during spring training, or when he’s ready to come back next season. The ball is entirely in his court. The Dodgers have said they gladly will take him back.

So, until a decision is made, there’s really no reason to put him on a projected Dodgers roster. He should provide a tremendous boost if he decides to come back. We’ll just have to wait and see.

A trade is made

The Dodgers traded Yency Almonte and infielder Michael Busch to the Chicago Cubs for two prospects, left-handed pitcher Jackson Ferris and outfielder Zyhir Hope.

Almonte was out of options, which means he would have become available to every team if the Dodgers tried to send him to the minors next season. And after he finished last year with a 5.06 ERA, the odds are that he would have been sent down and some team would have picked him up. This way the Dodgers get something for him.

Busch was one of the Dodgers’ top prospects, but there was no real role for him on next season’s team. It’s unlikely he would have cracked the bench, which features Chris Taylor, Miguel Rojas, Manuel Margot and Austin Barnes. And after he hit .167 in 72 at-bats in the majors last season, it seemed time to move him for a younger player.

Ferris, 19, was the Cubs’ No. 8 prospect. He pitched for class-A Myrtle Beach last season and was 2-3 with a 3.38 ERA in 56 innings, giving up 35 hits and walking 33 while striking out 77.

Hope, 18, is unranked. He had only 35 at-bats in rookie ball last season, hitting .286 with three homers and eight walks with 13 strikeouts.

Fan Fest

Have you ever gone to Dodgers Fan Fest? It’s a great thing. You get access to Dodger Stadium for free and get to watch player interviews. It’s a festival atmosphere, and yes, they charge for some things, such as autographs, but you could go, not spend a dime and have a great time. If you were, say, a single mom with three kids, it was a great way to get your kids involved with your favorite team, keeping that family tradition alive, since you might not be able to scrape up enough money to take everyone to a game.

Well, forget about free admission this year. Now if you want to go, it’s $10. So, if you are that single mom on a budget, that’s $40 just to get in the door. Why are the Dodgers doing this? Well, colleague Bill Shaikin asked them, and they declined to give a response.

This is terribly short-sighted by the team. What better way to build goodwill among the fans, who already are worried about ticket prices and concessions going up after the team spent more than $1 billion in the offseason, than to keep this free? And I’m sure this will sell out, but that doesn’t make it a smart business decision.

It’s just foolishness from a team that has perhaps the worst PR skills of any local team in recent memory.

Fan Fest will be Feb. 3 if you want to go.

No arbitration

The Dodgers reached deals and avoided arbitration with all 10 of their eligible players. The players and what they will be paid next season:

Will Smith, $8.55 million (made $5.25 million last season)
Walker Buehler, $8.025 million ($8.025 million)
Evan Phillips, $4 million ($1.3 million)
Ryan Yarbrough, $3.9 million ($3 million)
Brusdar Graterol, $2.7 million ($1.225 million)
Caleb Ferguson, $2.4 million ($1.1 million)
Dustin May, $2.135 million ($1.675 million)
Gavin Lux, $1.125 million ($750,000)
Alex Vesia, $1 million ($750,000)
J.P. Feyereisen, $770,000 ($750,000)

Since he didn’t pitch at all last season, Buehler accepted the same salary he received in 2023. He was the only arbitration eligible Dodger not to get a raise.

Spring training tickets on sale

If you want to go to a spring training game, now is the time to buy your tickets. The Dodgers announced Tuesday that single-game tickets are on sale. Go here to browse.

In case you missed it

Teoscar Hernández set for everyday role with Dodgers after slow free-agency process

‘Everything they touch turns to gold.’ How the Dodgers help pitchers change their fortunes

Dodgers to charge admission to annual fan festival this year

Dodgers trade Michael Busch, Yency Almonte; avoid arbitration with Walker Buehler

And finally

The only batter Sandy Koufax could never get out. Watch and listen here.