March 16th, 2019 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka It’s probably as close as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts can – or will – ever get to saying “No.”
On Friday afternoon, the Dodgers skipper was asked – once again – if future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw would be his Opening Day starter on March 28 against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. Ever the optimist, here’s what Doc said:
“It’s unlikely, that’s fair,” Roberts said of what would have been Kershaw’s franchise-record-setting ninth consecutive Opening Day start. “But to be definitive, I don’t want to close the door. But when you look at the calendar, it’s more unlikely.”
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
As noted in an article here on ThinkBlue LA this past Tuesday, there was – and according to Roberts still is – a remote possibility that the three-time Cy Young award winner, seven-time All-Star, former Triple Crown winner, former MLB MVP, five-time ERA champion, former MLB Player of the Year, and Gold Glove winner could … could still be used as an “Opener” for perhaps once through the Dbacks batting order on Opening Day, but here again, Roberts would not say “No.”
“With Clayton, anything’s possible,” said Roberts instead. “Obviously, Clayton has made many Opening Day starts for us consecutively, but we’ve got to do right by him and for us. It could be Rich [Hill]. We haven’t set it exactly. All the guys that are healthy are in play.
“It’s not responsible for me to just close the door. Whatever capacity and how you structure the ‘pen would have to reflect that. Clayton is on-board with whatever our training staff supports. We’re all synced up and taking it day to day. Wherever that takes us, he’s at peace with.”
In other words … “No.”
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Posted in 
The traditional but accelerated path for him would be
Throw a bullpen Sunday the 17th
Throw to batters 4 days later, the 21st.
Throw a sim game or spring training game 4-5 days later on the 26
Then 5 days later pitch in a game somewhere which would be the 31st. He misses opening day unless they squeeze in a 1-2 inning opening day “start” and would only be the 2nd game action, and in a real game! I think Roberts is keeping who will really start a secret so the Diamondbacks don’t know who to prepare for.