Dodgers add Clayton Kershaw to baseball's most expensive disabled list

Blake Schuster
·Yahoo Sports Contributor
·3 min read
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There’s no question the Los Angeles Dodgers have finally put together one of baseball’s fiercest rosters — on the disabled list.

The injury woes in L.A. took another devastating turn on Sunday with news that ace Clayton Kershaw was being placed on the 10-day DL with bicep tendonitis. Reports from the Dodgers’ clubhouse have Kershaw already on his way back to Los Angeles from MLB’s Mexico Series with the Padres to meet with team doctor Neal ElAttrache, whose name is beginning to strike the same amount of fear in fans as James Andrews’.

For those counting at home, that makes eight players on the DL for the Dodgers. Rich Hill is now expected to return on Tuesday, but until that happens there’s a significant amount of money piling up for guys who aren’t playing.

Like $100 million worth of inactive players. Well, $93,465,000 million to be exact.

That’s higher than the total payroll of four MLB clubs, including three (Oakland, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay) that have higher winning percentages than the 15-18 Dodgers.

Among those injured Dodgers, Justin Turner (wrist) is out until at least mid-May, Tom Koehler (shoulder) won’t be ready until after the All-Star break, Corey Seager (UCL) isn’t expected back until 2019 and there’s still Julio Urias (shoulder) who is working his way back from surgery last June.

Which is to say nothing of Yasiel Puig (hip, foot), Logan Forsythe (shoulder) or Hyun-Jin Ryu (groin).

Before Kershaw’s injury, Los Angeles had already paid out $6,032,720 to players on the DL. In terms of wastes of money, that’s more than Mets are paying Matt Harvey ($5.6 million) this season.

Whatever good vibes existed in the clubhouse after L.A. tossed a combined no-hitter on Friday have probably faded by now. If you’re a Dodgers fan waiting for a good time to panic, this might be your moment.

Los Angeles is now fourth in the NL West and seven games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks — who they’ll face for a quick two-game series starting on Tuesday.

Hopefully there’s some good news for Kershaw by then. Otherwise the Dodgers can expect to pay out a lot more money to guys on the bench.

A three-time NL Cy Young Award winner, Clayton Kershaw is now back on the disabled list for the third time in as many seasons. (AP Photo)
A three-time NL Cy Young Award winner, Clayton Kershaw is now back on the disabled list for the third time in as many seasons. (AP Photo)

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Blake Schuster is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!