Does Kyle Seager’s retirement shed new light on Texas Rangers’ Kershaw pursuit?

Kyle Seager shocked the Texas Rangers and the rest of the baseball world on Wednesday with the news that he’ll be hanging up his cleats.

It comes as something of a welcome development for the Rangers, who have taken the brunt of Seager’s powerful bat tormenting them over the years with the Seattle Mariners. We won’t exactly miss him, but we can respect and salute a very good career in baseball.

Seager, who played 10 years in Seattle from 2011-2021, opted for retirement after a year in which he slugged 35 long balls. Evidently, it was Mariners or bust for the veteran third baseman, because brother Corey now plays for the Texas Rangers. That meant the opportunity for Kyle to take the field with Corey if he so desired. He did not.

That poses the question: does Kyle Seager’s choice to pursue a one-team legacy affect Clayton Kershaw and his decision between staying in Los Angeles with the Dodgers or returning home to Dallas to play for the hometown Texas Rangers?

Kyle Seager’s retirement could shed new light on the Texas Rangers’ pursuit of Clayton Kershaw

Directly? No. Indirectly? Possibly.

The older Seager is Kershaw’s senior by a year, so they’re at similar points in their careers. Yet Seager decided to call it a career after his age 34 season.

Kershaw, as is well-documented, has an injury history, especially of late. His 3.55 ERA in 2021 was still quite good, but a drop from where it once used to sit. Kershaw would easily add value in multiple ways to a young Texas Rangers team. But like Seager, Kershaw is faced with the possibility of spending his entire career in one place. And that has appeal too. Just ask Kyle, or else he wouldn’t have retired coming off a career year.

There’s no doubt the thought of staying in Dodger blue forever occupies a place in Kershaw’s mind. But there’s also no doubt that his growing family matters to him, and the thought of having to uproot them every year to LA from Texas for the season is taxing, especially as the kids grow older.

It’s quite a decision for Kershaw, as you can see. But maybe the answer for him lies in retirement, as it did for Kyle Seager. Given the injuries and the thought of playing anywhere else other than LA, maybe hanging it up doesn’t seem so far-fetched for the 33-year-old lefty.

We hope he chooses to continue playing, though, and for the Texas Rangers. Corey Seager is here. Chris Woodward is here. It seems to make sense. But so did a Seager brothers reunion in some respects.

Time will tell.