Clayton Kershaw declines 2025 player option, but intends to return to Dodgers

At the team’s World Series celebration on Friday, future Hall of Fame pitcher Clayton Kershaw declared himself a “Dodger for life.”

To be a Dodger in 2025, however, he and the team will have to work out a new contract.

Though Kershaw had a player option for around $5 million next season, according to a person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly, he declined it Monday, with the Major League Baseball Players Assn. listing him as a free agent. While this marks the fourth straight offseason Kershaw will hit free agency, the veteran left-hander has already said he will pitch for the Dodgers next year — a change from the last three winters, when the Dallas native considered signing with the Texas Rangers.

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So, to return to Los Angeles for an 18th MLB season, Kershaw and the team will now have to strike a new agreement instead.

Kershaw hinted he might not opt-in to his current deal following the Dodgers’ World Series parade and stadium rally on Friday, saying that he would “somehow” remain with the team, and that he didn’t care about the method.

Kershaw’s current deal, which he signed last winter, would have guaranteed him $10 million for next season, with the opportunity to make up to $25 million total based on incentives (after 10 starts next year, he would have received a $1 million bonus for every start thereafter).

By opting for a new deal, Kershaw and the team can restructure his salary and/or add options for future seasons, if he wishes to keep playing beyond 2025.

After missing the first four months of this year recovering from shoulder surgery, Kershaw will once again face health questions entering 2025. This week, he is scheduled to undergo surgery on his left toe (to address a bone spur, arthritis and a ruptured plantar plate) and left knee (where he has a meniscus injury). Until those procedures are complete, he said he is unsure of how long the recovery process will take.

Read more: Clayton Kershaw revels in his first World Series parade, reveals additional injury

Still, for a club that has openings in its starting rotation, and has long revolved around the three-time Cy Young Award winner and former National League most valuable player, retaining Kershaw — officially — was on the Dodgers’ offseason to-do list.

And though that box remained unchecked as of Monday, his return should be finalized at some point this offseason.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.