Editor’s note: This is the Wednesday, Dec. 7, edition of the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.
Good morning. This week the last thing I do before going to sleep and the first thing I do after waking up is check for baseball moves. But sometimes the best moves at the Winter Meetings aren’t moves at all.
There’s other news:
• The Rams picked up quarterback Baker Mayfield on waivers and could start him Thursday night against the Raiders.
• Anthony Davis was sick and left early as the Lakers lost in Cleveland.
• Viktor Arvidsson and Anze Kopitar helped goalie Pheonix Copley to a win in his Kings debut.
• USC’s Caleb Williams and Tuli Tuipulotu were voted Pac-12 offensive and defensive players of the year.
• And John Lowe was voted winner of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America Career Excellence Award; Lowe, who broke into newspapers with the Long Beach Press-Telegram and started his baseball writing career covering the Angels and Dodgers for the L.A. Daily News before spending years on the Detroit Tigers beat, will be honored at the Hall of Fame ceremonies in July.
Meanwhile, writers Bill Plunkett, Jeff Fletcher and Jim Alexander have been using their knowledge, intuition and contacts built up over years of covering baseball to bring us the news out of baseball’s Winter Meetings, which end today in San Diego.
There has been plenty of news affecting the Dodgers (find it all here) and Angels (keep up to date here), the biggest player move being free-agent shortstop Trea Turner leaving the Dodgers to join the Phillies on an 11-year, $300 million contract.
But some of the biggest news, and maybe the best for Angels and Dodgers fans, is who’s staying with their teams. The Angels announced earlier that they wouldn’t look to trade pitcher and designated hitter Shohei Ohtani before the 2021 American League MVP enters the final year of his contract next season. The Dodgers re-signed three-time Cy Young Award, one-time National League MVP left-hander Clayton Kershaw on Monday for one year and $20 million. And before 6 a.m. California time today, the Yankees re-signed 2022 AL MVP Aaron Judge for $360 million over nine years, keeping him from jumping to the Dodgers’ rivals in San Francisco or San Diego.
Kershaw’s decision to stay in Los Angeles instead of chasing more money to go to the Rangers, near his home in Texas, isn’t as important in terms of wins and losses as it would have been in his prime or as impactful as many others this week. But it’s something to cheer.
The soon-to-be 35-year-old’s first 15 years with the Dodgers have produced one World Series championship and plenty of disappointments, none worse than losing to the Padres in the playoffs in October. Kershaw remains motivated, as his comments in Plunkett’s story suggested.
“Ellen (his wife) and I got home in the offseason and we talked for a few days but really just felt like we weren’t done,” Kershaw said. “I think that was the biggest thing. We just felt like our time wasn’t finished in L.A.”
As Plunkett pointed out, when he starts his 16th season, Kershaw will tie Hall of Famer Don Sutton for the longest tenure by a Dodgers pitcher.
Kershaw also will give himself a chance, if he ends up retiring as a Dodger, to be one of the great players who spent their entire pro careers with one Los Angeles or Anaheim team.
The list of Hall of Fame or major award-winning athletes who played 10 years or more, all with one team in this market, is an exclusive one: The Dodgers’ Don Drysdale. The Lakers’ Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant. The Rams’ Merlin Olsen, Jack Youngblood, Tom Mack and Jackie Slater.
Current players who could join the list include the Angels’ Mike Trout, the Rams’ Aaron Donald and the Kings’ Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Quick and Drew Doughty.
It’s nice to hear a player cares about that too.
“I think I’ve always thought it was a cool thing (to play your entire career with one team),” Kershaw said in Plunkett’s story. “I don’t take any of that for granted.”
Fans shouldn’t either.
TODAY
• The Clippers’ chance to pile up some road wins continues at Orlando (4 p.m., BSSC).
• The Lakers play at Toronto (4:30 p.m., SPSN) and try to avoid a losing streak in a tough stretch.
• USC and Cal State Fullerton meet in men’s basketball at the Galen Center (8 p.m., Pac12N). Trojans update.
READERS REACT
The newsletter asked: For the Dodgers, how big a blow is losing free-agent shortstop Trea Turner to the Phillies?
“They’ll be fine as long as Dave Roberts stops making bonehead decisions, and for the record I think it would be a bigger blow to lose the other Turner,” Twitter user Giddyup answered. “Justin is a clubhouse leader and leader in the community. Dodgers have lost a lot of All-Star players in the past five years and yet they keep on winning their division every year. They’ll be fine without Trea.”
NEXT QUESTION
Do you respect an athlete more for spending an entire pro career with one team? Respond by email (KModesti@scng.com) or on Twitter (@KevinModesti).
280 CHARACTERS
“This is truly outstanding, as the man himself would say. John’s genuine decency, relentless kindness and childlike love of the game made every day he was at the ballpark better for all who encountered him. Nobody did more to help young writers.” – Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner), the New York Times (and former Riverside Press-Enterprise) baseball writer, on John Lowe winning the BBWAA Career Excellence Award.
1,000 WORDS
Hit and miss: The Lakers’ LeBron James lands a blow to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Jarrett Allen but misses a breakaway dunk during L.A.’s 116-102 loss in Cleveland last night. No foul was called on the play. The photo is by Jason Miller for Getty Images.
LET’S TALK
Thanks for reading the newsletter. Send suggestions, comments and questions by email at KModesti@scng.com and via Twitter @KevinModesti.
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