For Kershaw’s outings, Roberts looks way beyond the innings
On Wednesday afternoon in San Francisco, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw finished his seventh inning of scoreless baseball and jogged to the dugout. His manager awaited his arrival.
Up six runs, Dave Roberts reviewed his options. He considers the days when Kershaw pitches among his most difficult to manage. The temptation to let Kershaw finish a game always lurks. Kershaw had thrown only 89 pitches. The Dodgers were in the midst of a 17-game stretch without a day off, the sort of slog that can exhaust a bullpen. The temptation was real.
Yet Roberts did not succumb. He considered the score, the month and the moment. “What’s the point?” he would say later.
Inside the dugout, Roberts told Kershaw that relievers would handle the final two innings. The discussion was brief. Kershaw did not fight. Soon after, he pocketed his seventh victory of the season against two losses. His earned-run average dipped to 2.15.
Two days later, Kershaw leaned back in his chair inside the Dodgers clubhouse and pondered a trend that had been mentioned to him. In nine starts this season, Kershaw had topped 100 pitches once — a 118-pitch outing in San Diego — and thrown exactly 100 twice. He had thrown fewer than 90 three times. In his first nine starts last season, he threw more than 100 pitches seven times, and never fewer than 90. Kershaw deadpanned the only logical conclusion.
“That I’m soft?” Kershaw said. He pursed his lips and nodded. “I’m soft.”
The actual answer does not require a referendum on Kershaw’s toughness or sound an alarm about his previously injured back. As the Dodgers ponder how to preserve their pitching staff for October, Roberts has exercised discretion in Kershaw’s usage.
Unlike the others in the rotation, the Dodgers do not intend to skip Kershaw or place him on the 10-day disabled list with a frivolous injury. But his outings may be shorter. After throwing two shutouts in the first two months of 2016, Kershaw has pitched beyond the seventh only twice in 2017.
Kershaw and Roberts have not discussed this shift in detail, both said. Kershaw called it an unspoken understanding. Roberts described a burgeoning trust between an ace and his manager.
The pact works on multiple levels. The Dodgers hope to reduce the risk of Kershaw aggravating his back. By lightening his regular-season workload, Roberts also believes Kershaw could benefit in the playoffs. Caution conflicts with Kershaw’s nature, but he has made peace.
“I don’t hate it,” said Kershaw, who will start Tuesday as the Dodgers open a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium. “Because I understand where they’re coming from. Now, if there’s a situation that dictates me staying in the game and I come out, I’ll have a problem there. But I feel like everything that Doc’s trying to do is benefiting everybody.”
The restraint has not dimmed Kershaw’s capability. He led all National League pitchers in FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement heading into Monday’s games. He ranked first in innings, second in ERA, second in fielding-independent ERA (FIP), first in walks plus hits per inning (WHIP) and second in strikeout-to-walk ratio.
You almost take it for granted, until you stop to think about it for a moment, about just how special he is.
— Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman
The season has not come without complications. Kershaw’s strikeout rate has dipped and his home-run rate has risen — including three in one game for the first time in his career. Kershaw spent six weeks searching for his slider. Despite the hiccups, he continues to anchor the organization.
“I can’t say enough about the consistency that Kersh provides to our rotation,” President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman said. “As well as all of our guys have pitched, our mindset is still to look ahead to when Kersh is pitching, and think through the surrounding days. You almost take it for granted, until you stop to think about it for a moment, about just how special he is.”
Friedman downplayed the suggestion that the Dodgers planned to limit Kershaw’s innings. He stressed that Roberts reacted to in-game situations. Kershaw has thrown at least six innings in each outing. He has also told Roberts that “I’m never going to say I’ve had enough.” It is Roberts’ responsibility to decide when to curtail Kershaw and when to extend him.
“There are going to be times when I’m going to push on him and lean on him,” Roberts said. “But I am being very cognizant of trying to manage him the right way.”
Roberts credited Kershaw for observing how the organization has handled starting pitchers. No other member in the rotation is expected to log 200 innings. Each pitcher must sacrifice something for the greater good of the group. Kershaw is not excluded from that calculus.
Trust takes time. It’s just the trust that I’m not trying to take money out of his pocket
— Dodgers manager Dave Roberts
“Trust takes time,” Roberts said. He added, “It’s just the trust that I’m not trying to take money out of his pocket, not allow him to perform. I think he’s seen over the course of the last year how I’ve managed the team. And it’s always in the best interests of the team. He is our best pitcher. But he understands it’s not the Clayton Kershaw Show. He wants to win a championship.”
Two weeks after the Dodgers hired him in 2015, Roberts flew to Kershaw’s home in Dallas. The visit doubled as an act of patronage. Roberts considered Kershaw the cornerstone of the franchise and vital to the chemistry of the clubhouse. He wanted to show respect and build trust. The trip was “an obligation for me,” Roberts explained after the meeting.
A relationship cannot blossom overnight. Kershaw awed Roberts with dedication to his routine. Roberts probed for openings to make conversation, but often hesitated out of wariness about interrupting Kershaw’s meticulous schedule. Roberts steered clear on days when Kershaw pitched. Roberts did not visit Kershaw on the mound until his 11th start of the season.
Kershaw craves consistency. He is willing to listen to suggestions from staff members about alterations to his training regimen, but he prefers to conduct those conversations during the winter. He lives within a five-day bubble, each day calibrated to prepare him for his next outing. He thrives on self-induced myopia and projects an indomitable aura.
The veneer cracked last June, when Kershaw required an epidural to numb the pain of a herniated disc. He tried to hurry back from the disabled list. Kershaw suffered a setback during a simulated game two weeks later. He would not return until September.
As he recovered, Kershaw reconfigured his workouts to reduce the strain on his back. He acted on the advice of Dodgers medical personnel. He carried that routine into the off-season. At 29, now in his 10th major-league season, Kershaw quipped that “I’m getting wiser in my old age.”
So he did not rage when he missed the chance at a shutout last week. Or when he logged 84 pitches on opening day. Or when Roberts went to the bullpen with a one-run lead after seven innings and 90 pitches on April 25 against the San Francisco Giants. Or after an 85-pitch night against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on May 12.
Kershaw has won three Cy Young Awards. He was the first pitcher to win the National League MVP award since Bob Gibson in 1968. The only blank on his resume regards October. He understands what he must give up to get there.
“I don’t really care about any regular-season statistics,” Kershaw said. “I’d just like to be the last team to win a game this year. So, yeah. I get it.”
Twitter: @McCulloughTimes
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