Qualifying offers came out today for free agents in the MLB. Some of the players offered contracts included Freedie Freeman, Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Trevor Story and Justin Verlander. Notably not on this list is Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw is a DFW native and the Rangers could easily come to an agreement with him to finish his career in Arlington.
There are a lot of “if’s” here, however. His health being the number one if in my opinion. Also Rangers fans need to understand what they would be getting. A veteran with a ton of experience and his best days behind him. He would basically be a coach on the field. I’d be shocked if he ever made it through another whole season, although he did pitch 121 innings in 2021. He would be a Kyle Gibson type stop gap on eating up innings and teaching the very young staff how to pitch in the bigs.
Another “if” is who else they can get. They will have to overpay for Kershaw seeing what his past is. If they go and get someone like a Correa (highly unlikely), They may want to look for a cheaper option for a veteran pitcher (think Jordan Lyles). Kershaw made $23,000,000 in 2021. That is a good amount for a guy who is nearing the end of his career.
A huge roadblock could be the looming baseball strike this winter. Players may hold out and go on strike, and if they do it would probably be unwise to spend a lot of money on Kershaw. Now my hope is that there is no strike, but it is still out there and could happen. A strike would be very bad for baseball indeed.
So what do you think? Would you like to see Kershaw in Rangers red, white and blue? Let us know in the comment section, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or on the Podcast page.
