Clayton Kershaw will get his first all-star vacation since 2010

Phil Gurnee ♦ July 9, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

This decade has been known as the Clayton Kershaw All-Star decade but for the first time since 2010, Clayton Kershaw can spend the break with his family, and I expect he is ok with that.

All-Star selections are still fluid until the final weekend, especially for pitchers, but if any Dodger pitcher is going to get added to the all-star team it should be Ross Stripling not Clayton Kershaw.  I have no idea why Kenley Jansen is an all-star this year and Ross Stripling is not but I’m not going to fret over it. I’ll let the purple crew wonk over Kenley getting the gig over Adam Ottavino.  There a dozen relief options who have outperformed Kenley this summer so Dodger fans shouldn’t get to worked up about Ross not making the original cut.

Will 2017 be the last time Clayton is an all-star? Felix Hernandez was an all-star from 2009 – 2015, which encompassed his 23 – 29 years of age. Clayton was an all-star from 2011 – 2017 which were his age 23 – 29 seasons. Felix hasn’t been any good for a while now. I hope Clayton does not follow that path but these back injuries are not a good indicator and no matter how intense your work ethic is, if your back does not cooperate, there is only so much an athlete can do.

At the start of the year, many Dodger fans were worried that Kershaw would opt out of the last two years of contract but with Kershaw showing serious signs of fallibility the odds of that happening have to be dropping.  I expect those worries will go from worrying about him opting out, to worrying about him carrying 20% of the payroll budget for the next two years.