Things have gone for bad to worse for Dodgers Ace and Cy Young Award Winner Clayton Kershaw. After suffering a back injury that originally placed him on the DL until at least April 8th, it is being reported today that Kershaw will be out a minimum of 2-3 more weeks and could very well miss all of April.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Kershaw will be put on a pitching program and then re-evaluated in 2-3 weeks before a decision is made on when he will pitch again.
Over the next two to three weeks, Kershaw will be on what the Dodgers described Tuesday as a “submaximal” throwing program. He will then be re-evaluated by team physician Neal ElAttrache to determine when he can begin throwing at increased velocity.
Unfortunately for the Dodgers, it looks like their $215 million man is going to start this season off much more slowly than expected.
For a team with World Series aspirations, a long-term injury to the Ace could greatly affect the Dodgers season. With pitchers especially, any injury that starts off as minor and then leads to a player sitting a few weeks becomes worrisome the longer he is out.
Add that to the fact that there seems to be a curse on pitchers who sign long-term deals, (see: Zito, Barry and Santana, Johan for further proof) and the Boys in Blue may have something serious to worry about.
The Dodger organization and their fans will be holding their collective breaths in a few weeks when it is time to receive an update on Kershaw. Until then, it will be interesting to see if the injury hangs a cloud over the Dodgers heads as they play out the first month of the season.