MLB Network Analyst Wants to See Clayton Kershaw Re-Sign With Dodgers

The fit is more sentimental than practical, but it's a strong sentiment.

As it currently stands, the Dodgers' starting rotation is unusually right-hand dependent. No left-handers would be in the starting rotation if the season started today. Left-handed starting pitching is not a necessity, but it’s always nice to have some flexibility.

The front office is still trying to add to the rotation, even after trading for Tampa Bay Rays veteran Tyler Glasnow. Their number one priority seems to be right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The only issue with him is that, again, he is a right-hander. 

One pitcher in particular stands out as a solution to the Dodgers' lefty problem. 

Free agent Clayton Kershaw won't be pitching until at least midseason, but the Dodgers legend deserves a chance to come back for at least another year. Certainly fans (like Glasnow) who grew up watching Kershaw break into the league wouldn't mind a reunion.

Neither would MLB Network analyst Harold Reynolds. He doesn't want to see Kershaw land anywhere else this winter.

“For me, I don’t think he has anywhere else to go. He’s a Dodger,” Reynolds said. “He’s going to Cooperstown, first ballot Hall of Famer. He’s the closest royalty to Sandy Koufax…. so he can’t go anywhere.”

Per Harold Reynolds of MLB Network

Being able to spend his entire career with the Dodgers likely means something to the future Hall of Famer. Kershaw has always looked up to left-hander Sandy Koufax, who he spent his entire career in a Dodger uniform. 

Kershaw has earned the right to do whatever he feels is best for his family, but the hope is he returns to L.A. His lasting image as a member of the Dodgers can't be him with his hands in his face, walking off the mound after an early playoff exit

Number 22 deserves a proper send-off by the fans who have supported him for so long. The Dodgers will enter the year as one of the teams with the best chance to win the World Series, and maybe Kershaw can help get them one more title. 

The sentimental reasons for wanting Kershaw back in 2024 might outweigh the practical, but it's difficult to imagine the Dodgers' front office placing a different left-hander atop their off-season wish list.