Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers Reportedly Agree to 1-Year, $17M Contract

The man is not going anywhere.

The eight-time All-Star agreed to a one-year deal to return to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, pending a physical according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

Jon Heyman of the MLB Network said that the deal is worth $17 million.

One day after the Major League Baseball Players Association and MLB agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement, the reported deal came down.

When he was healthy, he was an upper-tier starter. He went 10-8 with a 3.55 ERA and 3.00 FIP in 22 appearances, his best number since 2015, according to FanGraphs.

Injuries were once again a problem for the future Hall of Famer. He missed most of July and August because of inflammation in his left forearm.

The injury that knocked him out of the playoffs came back after he returned to the mound. It was not a great conclusion to the year.

He won three Cy Young awards over four seasons, but his skills have diminished slightly. According to Baseball Savant, the expected batting average is.219 and the expected slugging percentage is.368. He finished in the 94th percentile with a whiff rate of 34.6%.

In terms of his value going forward, he is an obvious choice, as he has not hit 30-plus starts since 2015, with a series of minor injuries.

His sweet-spot and hard-hit percentages were his highest since tracking began.

One of the greatest pitchers of his generation, Kershaw is bound to age more gracefully than many of his peers. His performance over the last few years is a testament to that.

His pitches should help in that regard. He has never relied on overpowering velocity and he has a pair of devastating breaking pitches.

Ross Stripling was with the Dodgers for four-and-a-half seasons. He was a guest on an episode of FanGraphs Audio and gave some insight on why the left-handed pitcher has been so dominant.

Stripling said that he has the same intensity and conviction on both pitches. They can instill fear in a lineup because of their success and intensity.

Stripling said that the two pitches can be almost unhittable together.

"The slider is his bread and butter. He'll throw it any time, whereas you never see him throw his curveball when he's behind in the count. His curveball is a put-away pitch almost exclusively. But his slider… especially if you go back to vintage Kershaw—MVP/Cy Young Kershaw—he's going glove-side fastballs, with sliders off of that. That's the one-two combo that he'll eat lefties and righties up with all day."

The Dodgers may have had a dilemma if Kershaw showed signs of decline. When a front office is trying to maintain a championship-level roster, sometimes franchise legends have to be let go.

The ball seemed to be in his court. He is one of the best pitchers in Dodgers history, but he can still produce 3.4 WAR despite missing a third of his starts. Sentiment did not have to figure into the equation to continue penciling him into Los Angeles.