Kershaw 'ready to move on' from sign-stealing

January 27th, 2020

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- For the first time publicly, addressed the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal on Monday, reiterating the tone of resigned frustration expressed by teammates at Saturday’s Dodgers FanFest.

Appearing at teammate Justin Turner’s annual charity golf tournament, Kershaw said he understands why involved players haven’t been punished, but not their lack of “remorse.”

“Obviously, the players got immunity to talk about it, so we wouldn’t have the information without that and I understand that,” Kershaw said. “It is a little interesting that the Astros players haven’t said, 'Sorry.' Not a whole lot of remorse yet. Which, they did win a World Series and they’re not taking it back, so, I don’t know. It would be good to hear from those guys and what they say about it. Maybe mean it a little bit, would be good. But I’m good. I made my peace. And I’m ready to move on.”

While no current Astros players have apologized, former Houston pitcher Dallas Keuchel -- who signed with the White Sox this winter -- said at last week's SoxFest that that “apologies should be in order.”

Kershaw could make the argument that he was as negatively affected by the scheme as anybody in the 2017 World Series. After limiting Houston to one run on three hits over seven innings and beating Keuchel in Game 1 at home, Kershaw couldn’t get out of the fifth inning or protect leads of four and three runs on the road in Game 5, fueling the narrative of his postseason struggles.

“I tried to move on in [2017], and I thought I did a decent job of that, and having to relive it all is no fun,” he said. “I have thought about it. But at the same time, I can’t change it, and we’re not going to win no matter what, so, going to move on.”

Kershaw also agreed with teammates that dwelling on 2017 won’t serve a positive purpose in preparing for '20.

“We can focus on it now for as long as we can, think about it. Then, once Spring Training rolls around, I hope we can get rid of it and move on,” he said. “I think we will, for sure. Maybe the silver lining is this did happen in the offseason and we can have time to digest it and marinate in it and feel what we’re going to feel. Then, once Spring Training moves around, we can kind of move past it. Everybody has had a chance to talk about it and we feel at peace with where we’re at and move on.”