Good to hear. I'd love to see him spend his whole career there - it is always rare for a HOF lock to get their whole career in one place.

same

Would have been a bummer to see Kershaw go elsewhere, especially as long as he's still a good pitcher.

Good to hear. I'd love to see him spend his whole career there - it is always rare for a HOF lock to get their whole career in one place.

Seems like it's been happening a lot more lately:

Jeter
Martinez
Rivera
Jones
Trammell
Bagwell
Biggio

All in the last 8 years.

Reported as $17M plus incentives.

Wait, is that less than the QO? Was he offer the QO or not? I can't remember.

Why only one year?

Because of the way his 2021 season ended. Reasonable fear that he might wind up getting TJS.

Good to hear. I'd love to see him spend his whole career there - it is always rare for a HOF lock to get their whole career in one place.

It would seem that way but it turns out that there are a surprising number of Hall of Famers in the past 20-30 years who played only for a single team.

Said like someone who was a fan of Bagwell and Biggio.

Kershaw does seem like a candidate for early retirement, sadly. His body has really given up on him the last few years. He can still pitch, but he can't stay healthy.

Agree with above, it would have been weird to see Kershaw in a uniform other than the Dodgers.

it is always rare for a HOF lock to get their whole career in one place.

It would seem that way but it turns out that there are a surprising number of Hall of Famers in the past 20-30 years who played only for a single team.

While both these statements may feel true, one team HOFers actually aren't THAT rare; there's generally been about 5-6 per decade. Nor has the number been increasing (or decreasing) in recent decades; it DID used to be extremely rare in the deadball era, but other than blips in the 1920's (too many HOFers elected from this period altogether) and the 1950's (first full decade without the color barrier) when it doubled, it's remained basically steady for 100 years.

One team HOFers, by debut decade:

1880's (1) - Bid McPhee
1890's (0) - n/a
1900's (2) - Walter Johnson, Addie Joss (only played 9 seasons)
1910's (2) - Red Faber, Ross Youngs
1920's (10) - Earle Combs, Bill Dickey, Lou Gehrig, Charlie Gehringer, Carl Hubbell, Travis Jackson, Ted Lyons, Mel Ott, Bill Terry, Pie Traynor
1930's (5) - Luke Appling, Joe DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr, Bob Feller, Ted Williams
1940's (6) - Roy Campanella, Bob Lemon, Stan Musial, Pee Wee Reese, Phil Rizzuto, Jackie Robinson
1950's (10) - Ernie Banks, Roberto Clemente, Don Drysdale, Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Al Kaline, Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, Bill Mazeroski, Brooks Robinson
1960's (5) - Johnny Bench, Tony Oliva, Jim Palmer, Willie Stargell, Carl Yastrzemski
1970's (5) - George Brett, Jim Rice, Mike Schmidt, Alan Trammell, Robin Yount, (plus hopefully Lou Whitaker one day!)
1980's (6) - Craig Biggio, Tony Gwynn, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, Cal Ripken Jr, Kirby Puckett
1990's (5*) - Jeff Bagwell, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Chipper Jones, Todd Helton* (soon)
2000's - At least 5 potential candidates (mostly catchers!): Joe Mauer, Buster Posey, Yadier Molina, Joey Votto, Clayton Kershaw
2010's - Obviously way too early to tell with most the young guys, but Trout, Altuve, and Freeman have already passed the 10 year mark with their original teams

If he retires with the Dodgers, Kershaw would be the first one team HOF starter since Jim Palmer though...

Wait, is that less than the QO? Was he offer the QO or not? I can't remember.

They did not offer him a QO as a sign of respect, so as not to hurt his chances of signing elsewhere.

I remember in the 80's reporters claimed we wouldn't see any more 1 team guys thanks to free agency. Obviously they were way off on that. Molina should be a lock now (can't imagine him going elsewhere at this point), Posey and Mauer are marginal for making the HOF IMO but I could be wrong. Votto, as a Canadian I'd love to see him come to the Jays at the end but as a baseball fan I'd prefer he stuck to being a Red only. Kershaw is still up in the air, as who knows what happens next year? Freeman looks 50-50 to move, Altuve has a very good shot at sticking it out in Houston, and I think we'd all be shocked if Trout isn't an Angel for life, unless at the end he asks for a trade to a contender so he can get a WS ring (ala Paul Molitor leaving the Brewers for the Jays late in his career to get his ring).

I'd love MLB to set up something to make it easier for a team to keep a star for their whole career - maybe a special exemption from the luxury tax for 50% of their salary if a guy has been with one team his whole ML career and has over 6 years of experience, or a pool to keep a 'home town star' in a smaller market via a central fund paying 50% of the salary of the top paid player who has been with a small market team his whole career (same principle but only working for small markets such as Tampa Bay, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, etc.).

They did not offer him a QO as a sign of respect, so as not to hurt his chances of signing elsewhere.

They are also guaranteeing him slightly less money than the QO.

In addition to the players already named, the 2000's also featured several other one team players who looked like HOFers until they got injured or burned out right around 50 WAR: David Wright, Dustin Pedroia, Felix Hernandez, Ryan Braun (obviously he wouldn't have actually got elected even if he'd had 100 WAR, but still). So I don't see any reason to think that one team HOFers are going to become a thing of the past.

And all four of those guys are as deserving as a number of reserve clause era guys.

The FA era did allow players the opportunity to leave, but it also gave them the chance to stay.

Exactly. 10-and-5 rights also started in the 1970s, and have probably been a factor in the way a number of careers have transpired.

BITD, as you say, a team could keep you but they could trade you against your wishes. Jackie Robinson is on that list in #13 only because he retired rather than go to the Giants – the Dodgers were that sensitive to his iconicity …

The Luxury tax exemption probably wouldn’t help because (a) most teams are using the luxury tax as an excuse to not get terribly close to taxable levels, AND (2) by the time a team knows it’s a potential HOFer they’re deciding on, it seems the limiting factor is roster space and room in the starting line up, rather than dollars, per se.