GLENDALE, Ariz. — Clayton Kershaw wore a modified long-sleeve shirt Tuesday morning to combat the atypical Arizona cold. Adjacent to his jersey, a blue undershirt protected his right forearm. But his left arm was uncovered, the way he likes it.
As he warmed up to face hitters for the first time since the World Series’s seventh game, Kershaw paused his bullpen session for a second between pitches.
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“How far is that off?” the Dodgers’ ace asked his catcher, Yasmani Grandal.
Grandal separated his thumb and forefinger about one inch, then touched his thumb to the plate’s edge.
The question was about a pitch, not the Dodgers’ World Series dreams.
Kershaw fired a few more pitches and made his way to the mound, where Yasiel Puig ambushed his first pitch, shooting it into center field. A half-hour later, Kershaw had recognized his error: He thought his teammates would be patient while facing a pitcher for the first time in months, but they had gotten their takes out of the way on Monday.
“Second day, they were ready to go,” Kershaw said. “That’s going to be my excuse today.”
Kershaw said he physically “felt great”. He said his pitching was “not great,” in need of “a little work.”
There is time for that, with more than five weeks remaining until the Dodgers open their season against San Francisco on the fifth Thursday in March. Kershaw will build up stamina at the same speed he always does, but he will start from a smaller block this time. In his first start, early next week, he’ll pitch one inning instead of his usual two.
To him, it does not matter.
“Come March 29th,” Kershaw said, “I don’t think anyone’s gonna care where you’re at right now.”
Kershaw will be 30 by opening day. At season’s end, he will possess the right to opt out of the remaining two years and roughly $70 million on his contract. If he exercises that right, he’ll be a free agent for the first time.
Neither side has addressed their plans to confront that situation. Both sides hope that by then the Dodgers will have won their first World Series in 30 years. The anguish inherent in succumbing so close to the end three months ago still lingers within the team.
Responding to a question about the culmination last week, Kershaw said he was incapable of simply moving on from a given result.
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“I just kind of absorb it,” he said.
Asked if that was a healthy approach, he said he wasn’t sure.
“I’ll let you know if I explode at some point,” he said.
Notes
Major League Baseball will limit mound visits to six in 2018. A seventh by a coach or manager will trigger a pitching change. If a player attempts to make a visit at that point, he will be stopped by an umpire. Kershaw said he appreciated the league’s efforts to gather the players’ input rather than unilaterally make a decision. “Ultimately,” he said, “I’m not sure if it’s gonna create a huge difference with the mound visits or not.”. . .Roberts said he supported the mound-visit rule change. Asked if he knew how many trips he took to the mound per game in 2017, he slyly grinned. “We were probably on the higher end,” Roberts said. . . .Right-hander Wilmer Font, who made his Dodgers debut in September, will start Friday’s Cactus League opener. Right-hander Ross Stripling will start one of the club’s two split-squad games Saturday.
(Top photo: Tim Bradbury/Pool Photo via USA TODAY Sports)