Back surgery for Clayton Kershaw?

The Dodgers have some smart guys running their organization. No doubt about that. They have 6 guys in their front office who have been general managers in the MLB. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I'm smarter than these guys. But, there are some things that I just think are common sense that maybe these guys don't see.

There is a love for Clayton Kershaw in LA that is strong, and that's how it should be. He's a class act that has carried the Dodger pitching staff for years. But there are some ways that Dodger management has handled him and other pitchers that I don't agree with.

The Dodgers should not let Kershaw pitch before June. He has a tendency to run out of energy towards October. Can you blame him? These guys start pitching in February and have to go all the way to October. Yet, every year they let Clayton Kershaw pitch like a beast in the regular season only to see him start to run out of gas in the playoffs. To me it's obvious what the problem is. Pitching in LA during the summer can be hot and traveling all over the country can be exhausting. So why haven't the Dodgers started Kershaw later in the season?

The main reason is because if the Dodgers don't make the playoffs then none of this matters. The other reason is because baseball is so much about history and tradition. It's the one sport where people rarely step outside the box thinking. I just believe that if they would have started Kershaw in June the last couple of years he would just be getting into his zone come September and October. Another example of this in baseball was when the Washington Nationals shut down Stephen Strasburg at the end of the season and didn't allow him to pitch in the playoffs. They had him on a pitch count for the season and instead of starting him later they started him at the beginning of the season. That potentially cost the Nationals a chance at a World Series.

The other option besides starting them later in the season is to use a 6 man pitching rotation. I believe this should also be used more in the Majors. The Dodgers have a Japanese pitcher this season Kenta Maeda. In Japan he's used to pitching every 6th day. Since he's come to the Dodgers he's doing a great job but usually every other game he pitches. This tells me that his body just isn't ready on that 5th day. When a pitcher still goes out and pitches even if his body is not ready it usually leads to injuries. I believe this will happen to both Maeda and Urias the same way it has to Kershaw and even the Dodgers other injured pitcher Hyun Jin Ryu.

So as Clayton Kershaw sits on the disabled list I'm stuck with what could have been. I'm also frustrated that teams like the Dodgers, even with a stacked front office will not look at these options. I truly believe putting Maeda, Urias, Kershaw, Ryu (if he pitches again), Kazmir, Norris, etc, into a 6 man rotation will allow bodies to heal over the long season. Of course the most obvious thing to do is shorten the season but I guarantee you they'll never consider that idea. So instead this overly passionate Dodger baseball fan will continue to see the smartest front office in baseball not do what it should to protect it's pitchers. Instead, I'll continue to watch pitchers need surgery because they worked their bodies too hard.