So do you think Kershaw retires?

[G1911]

I'd rank him lower than most; but mostly because he has pitched so few innings. Less than 2,500 if he retires today. I'm fine with pitchers pitching less innings per game than they used too, but this mentality is not seeming to extend careers very much, if at all. Pitchers are pitching far less total innings before they are done; it's hard to put a guy with 2,451 innings alongside the greats who clocked far, far more. I'd put him just a notch below Pedro, way ahead of Koufax, but significantly below the greats who produced for many, many more total innings.

On the other hand, he has no real decline to knock him for. He has a 137 ERA+ in his last four seasons, which are his "decline" years. That's absurd, he's still very, very good and producing major value, he's just not the ERA leader every single year now. So far he has aged very well, from a rate stat point of view even as the injuries cut his work load further.