LOS ANGELES – A year ago, Clayton Kershaw underwent the first major surgery of his career.

This year, he joked that he’ll be participating in “a 2-for-1 special.” Kershaw said he will undergo two surgeries next Wednesday, one to repair the meniscus in his left knee and the other a more complicated procedure to address chronic problems he has with the big toe on his left foot.

That injury forced Kershaw to go on the disabled list after just seven starts this season. and prevented him from pitching in the postseason.

Kershaw said he doesn’t “know exactly the timeline” for his recovery, but that he will need crutches “for a while.” It will almost certainly impact their ability to open the 2025 season on time..

“Don’t know. “I don’t know,” he said of the estimated recovery time. “I think you have to go in and fix it and then understand the schedule after that.”

The three-time Cy Young Award winner said his knee had been bothering him for a while, so he had an MRI “just to check it out.”

“Indeed, I need a solution,” he said. “So add it to the list.”

That surgery will be performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who also performed Kershaw’s shoulder surgery last November.

Foot surgery will be more complicated. In addition to the bone spurs, Kershaw said he broke the plantar plate on the ball of his foot.

“There’s a lot of stuff there,” he said. “I think I tore my plantar plate. I think I have a bone spur. I think I have some arthritis. I really don’t know. I have to ask more questions. “There are a lot of things that need to be fixed.”

Kershaw also eventually acknowledged that he suffered an oblique injury while attempting to return to pitching before the end of the season. That wound, he said, has healed.

At the stadium event following Friday’s parade, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called Kershaw to speak to fans. The future Hall of Famer cried as he spoke.

“I didn’t have much to do with it, so I didn’t expect to be called there or to talk,” Kershaw later said.

“It was a little more emotional than I expected. … I know they (the fans) have felt all the losses too, just like I did. The only way to get through it is to just get through it, and we did, and somehow I’m still here, and they’re still here to celebrate.”

Kershaw has a player option in his contract and has said he plans to return to the Dodgers in 2025. He could exercise the option and return or decline the option, technically become a free agent and re-sign a new contract.

“I don’t know (how that will play out),” Kershaw said Friday. “I will return in some way. I don’t mind. “I’ll be right back.”

Roberts said he thought Kershaw’s emotions were “a culmination” of much more than his situation in 2024.

“Clayton has put the organization on his shoulders for a couple of decades,” Roberts said. “And there have been a lot of good and good moments, but there have been a lot of emotions for Clayton. And he has had to bear much of the burden. “I really think this show was the culmination of a lot of emotions for him, as you saw.”

FREE AGENCY

As players on the Dodger Stadium stage made calls to “come back” and professed “I never want to leave” to the 42,458 fans at the Dodger Stadium rally, free agency hit MLB on Friday.

One hundred and forty-four players officially became free agents throughout the MLB.including Dodgers pitchers Walker Buehler, Blake Treinen, Jack Flaherty and Joe Kelly, outfielder Teoscar Hernández and utility player Kiké Hernández. Outfielder Kevin Kiermaier and pitcher Daniel Hudson are also free agents. but both have said they will retire.

Teoscar Hernández, who cried while speaking to the crowd at the stadium event, made it clear that he would like to re-sign with the Dodgers. Last winter, he was surprised by the low offers he received as a free agent and signed with the Dodgers for one year and $23.5 million (much of it deferred).

His market is sure to be better this winter after hitting a career-high 33 home runs, driving in 99 runs and posting an .840 OPS. But he joked that he would like to re-sign with the Dodgers “hopefully tomorrow.”

“My hopes are really high,” he said. “As I’ve said before, the Dodgers are obviously the priority. “I’m going to do everything in my power to come back.”