Clayton Kershaw Placed on IL with Forearm Inflammation

Yes, it's as bad as it sounds.

Per the club:

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers recalled right-handed pitcher Mitch White and placed left-handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw on the 10-day injured list with left elbow inflammation.

White, 25, was recalled for the fourth time this season and is 0-0 with a 3.77 ERA (6 ER/14.21 IP) and 14 strikeouts in 12 games for the Dodgers. The righty appeared in five games (two starts) for Oklahoma City allowing two runs over 8.0 innings. In five minor league seasons with the Dodgers, he is a combined 14-15 with a 3.93 ERA and 322 strikeouts in 80 games (69 starts).

Kershaw, 32, will be placed on the injured list for the first time this season. He is 9-7 with a 3.39 ERA (40 ER/106.1 IP) and 127 strikeouts against 19 walks in 18 starts this season. The three-time Cy Young award winner has been with the Dodgers since being drafted as the seventh overall selection in the 2006 First Year Player Draft out of Highland Park High School and is 184 -83 with a 2.48 ERA (671 ER/2439.1 IP) and 2,653 strikeouts.

Comment: It’s as bad as it sounds, and actually worse than the above language, because the club updated the diagnosis from “elbow” to “forearm” inflammation shortly after the press release was sent out. That usually means Tommy John surgery. It doesn’t always, and some guys try to pitch through it, but generally, it’s the knife.

If you read my column yesterday — and you should’ve — you know how dire the starting pitcher situation is. The Dodgers made it known today that they were “distancing” themselves from Trevor Bauer, which is big of them.

I’ll have more in a column when I can muster the initiative.