Miguel Cabrera (Detroit) and Adam Wainwright (St. Louis) have announced their retirement after this season. Zack Greinke (Kansas City), Rich Hill (Pittsburgh), Corey Kluber (Boston) and Joey Votto (Cincinnati) will also hang up their jerseys if they are not re-signed.온라인카지노
The passing years are unstoppable. As the second half of the season gets underway, there”s another player who”s in the spotlight when it comes to retirement. That would be Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.
Kershaw signed back-to-back one-year free agent contracts last year and this year. He’s making $20 million this year after making $17 million last year. He is eligible for free agency again after this season. This is Kershaw’s 18th year with the Dodgers and 16th year in the big leagues, having been drafted seventh overall in the first round of the 2006 draft and making his major league debut in 2008.
Kershaw has won the National League (NL) Cy Young Award three times, in 2011 and 2013-2014. He has won five ERA titles and three strikeout titles, and has a career record of 207-91 with a 2.48 ERA and 2912 strikeouts. He’s a Hall of Famer.
After this season, he’s contemplating retirement again. Kershaw recently told USA Today, “I have a wife and four kids. “I don’t want to take anything away from how great it is to play baseball here. But I’m at a point where I have to think about everything. I’m weighing a lot of things. It could be months before I make a final decision after the season is over.”
Kershaw looks on with his four children during the All-Star Game ceremony on Monday (11 November). AFP Yonhap
“There are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to retirement after this season,” Kershaw said. AP
Kershaw first contemplated retirement after the 2021 season. That year, he struggled with elbow and arm injuries, going 10-8 with a 3.55 ERA in 22 starts. He hit the free agent market for the first time, but no team came calling. He had three options. Re-sign with the Dodgers, join his hometown Texas Rangers, or retire. The lockout that offseason was protracted, and after much deliberation, he chose to stay with the Dodgers the following March.
And last year, despite two stints on the disabled list with hip and back problems, Kershaw found his second wind, going 12-3 with a 2.28 ERA.
“If we had won the World Series last year, I would have hung up my uniform with no regrets,” Kershaw said. So the decision to come back this year was very easy. I honestly don’t know right now what’s going to happen after this year is over.”
Born in March 1988, Kershaw will be 36 next year. He still has a few more years left in him, but the physical demands and frequent injuries he has suffered in recent years have forced him to seriously consider retirement. This season, he was an ace for the first half of the season before a bad shoulder landed him on the injured list at the end of June. He has only one goal left. Win another World Series after 2020.
The Dodgers are currently leading the NL West with 53 wins and 39 losses as of the 17th. They lead the second-place San Francisco Giants by 1.5 games and the third-place Arizona Diamondbacks by two games. A postseason berth for the 11th straight year is a given.
On top of that, Kershaw is chasing his fourth Cy Young Award this year. As of today, he is 10-4 with a 2.55 ERA, 105 strikeouts, a 1.05 WHIP, and a .216 batting average, leading the NL in ERA, tied for fourth in wins, and first in WHIP. He is expected to return in early August. He has 10 starts left in the season. That’s plenty of time to solidify his Cy Young Award.
“I still want to be out there,” Kershaw said, “but I can’t stay healthy full-time. That’s the worst thing for me,” he said. “If I’m going to play next year, I need to be healthy. I don’t want to quit halfway through. I need to throw a full season. I need to be in a position where I can really hold my own and hold my own.”
In other words, he’s going to have to weigh three variables: health, family, and winning. Of course, if the Dodgers win this year, retirement is a given.