Reports: Kershaw agrees to 1-year deal to stay with LA
Clayton Kershaw is staying put with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
According to multiple reports Friday, the 33-year-old free-agent pitcher agreed to a one-year, $17 million contract to return to the only team he’s ever played for.
The deal is pending a physical.
Kershaw posted a photo of himself on Instagram with the caption, “We back!”
The three-time Cy Young Award winner who turns 34 next week is entering his 15th big-league season. The eighttime All-Star has a career mark of 185-84.
Kershaw was 10-8 with a 3.55 ERA and 144 strikeouts last season.
He missed the entire postseason — when the Dodgers came up two wins short of making the World Series — because of a left forearm injury that also cost him time during the second half of the season. He received a PRP injection in his arm and was expected to be ready for spring training.
GIANTS: Free agent lefthander Carlos Rodon has agreed to terms on a $44 million, two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
The deal is pending a physical with the defending NL West champions, the person told The Associated Press on Friday on condition of anonymity because the deal wasn’t announced.
The 29-year-old Rodon spent his first seven major league seasons with the Chicago White Sox. He is coming off a career-best season in which he set a high for wins in going 13-5 with a career-low 2.37 ERA over 24 starts.
Rodon also made his first All-Star team in helping the White Sox win the AL Central. But Rodon, who has been hampered by arm and shoulder troubles, pitched just 28 innings in the last two months of the season and was ineffective in his one playoff start against Houston in the Division Series.
CANADA TRAVEL: MLB players who are not vaccinated against the coronavirus won’t be allowed to travel into Canada to face the Blue Jays in Toronto and won’t be paid for those games.
Canada’s government requires a person must have received a second vaccine dose — or one dose of Johnson & Johnson — at least 14 days prior to entry.
“The parties have agreed that any player who, as a result of such a governmental regulation is unable or ineligible to play in a championship season game (or games) due to his vaccination status will be ineligible for placement on the COVID-19 IL, but rather may be placed on the restricted list ... without pay or the accrual of credited major league service, during such period of unavailability,” according to a letter from union deputy general counsel Matt Nussbaum to MLB senior vice president Patrick Houlihan, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
The agreement was first reported by Boston television station WCVB.
ALL-STAR GAME: If the next All-Star Game goes deep into the night, a slugger may get a chance to decide it by going deep — in a Home Run Derby.
That’s right, say going, going, goodbye to extra innings in the Midsummer Classic. Instead, bring on Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Shohei Ohtani, Fernando Tatis Jr., Bryce Harper and the big boppers for a winner-take-all blast-off.
Because buried deep in the 182-page memorandum of understanding signed Thursday by MLB and the players’ association is a radical new method of potentially deciding the AllStar Game.
“If the All-Star Game remains tied after nine innings, the game will be decided by a Home Run Derby between the teams, subject to the parties’ agreement on details and format,” reads exhibit 13, titled “Tentative Agreement — AllStar Game and Home Run Derby.”
And hear this, fans: As part of the overall agreement, “the parties agree to discuss further details and logistics of a potential mid-All-Star Game concert.”
Plus, a new flavor to MLB’s international mix — there will be a regular-season game in Paris in 2025.
This year’s All-Star Game is scheduled for Dodger Stadium on July 19, awarded to Los Angeles after the scheduled 2020 game was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.