Back to the Los Angeles Dodgers Newsfeed

Clayton Kershaw declines 2025 player option, but intends to return to Dodgers

At the team’s World Series celebration on Friday, future Hall of Fame pitcher Clayton Kershaw declared himself a “Dodger for life.”

To be a Dodger in 2025, however, he and the team will have to work out a new contract.

Though Kershaw had a player option for at least $10 million next season, he evidently declined it Monday, with the Major League Baseball Players Assn. listing him as a free agent. While this marks the fourth straight offseason Kershaw will hit free agency, the veteran left-hander has already said he will pitch for the Dodgers next year — a change from the last three winters, when the Dallas native considered signing with the Texas Rangers.