The Los Angeles Dodgers announced they and Clayton Kershaw agreed to extend the deadline on his option decision to Friday at 1 p.m. PT. The original deadline was scheduled for Wednesday at 9 p.m. PT.
Kershaw was drafted by the Dodgers in the first round in 2006 and has spent all 11 of his Major League seasons with them. A decision on whether to opt out of his contract and hit the open free agent market for the first time in his career cannot be an easy one.
The 30-year-old still has two years and around $65 million remaining on his current deal, so if he does opt out then he will be looking for something more long-term. That could mean an extension with the Dodgers, or joining another team.
Kershaw is coming off another season in which he missed time due to injury as he was limited to 26 starts in 2018. He did not have his best statistical seasons, but still put up All-Star caliber numbers by going 9-5 with a 2.73 ERA, 3.19 FIP and 1.04 WHIP. He struck out 155 and walked 29 in 161.1 innings.
Once again though, he fell short of his ultimate goal of winning a World Series as the Dodgers were defeated by the Boston Red Sox.
For the Dodgers, they will likely prioritize bringing Kershaw back if he does opt out considering he has been the face of the franchise for a better part of the last decade.
The reason for the extra time could be that the Dodgers and Kershaw’s representatives are working out an extension, or it could mean that Kershaw is conflicted about if he wants to opt out or not. With the deadline now just two days away, a resolution between the two sides should come soon.
