Possible Long Term Disastrous Implications of Shawn Tolleson Being Claimed by the Rangers

Shawn Tolleson in action in 2012. (photo by Kirby Lee/US Presswire)

Let’s put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Shawn Tolleson is Clayton Kershaw’s very close friend.  He was the best man at his wedding.  

  

Tolleson and his wife traveled to Zambia last year with the Kershaws to work at the school and orphanage they have established.  

Shawn Tolleson mixes cement in Africa at the orphanage that Clayton and Ellen Kershaw have built.  (photo from pitchinginthecommunity.mlblogs.com)

Both Tolleson and Kershaw are from the Dallas area and friends from their teenage years where they both played on the same USA Junior National team.  

(photo from: Greg Zakwin's blog, Plaschke Thy Sweater is Argyle LINKED HERE)

Tolleson, a fine pitching prospect in high school, was actually touted as a better prospect than Kershaw, but he underwent Tommy John surgery his senior year in high school and lost his elite status as a prospect.  His recovery from arm surgery was complete as he reached the big leagues after a long uphill battle that went through a baseball stint at Baylor University.   He was drafted by the Dodgers in 2010.

By 2012, Tolleson made his major league debut with the Dodgers.  His career was derailed this season with a back ailment that sidelined him for almost the whole year.  He was left off the Dodgers 40-man roster this winter and the Rangers picked him up.

Now this is where things could get ugly…

Kershaw will be a free agent after 2014 if the Dodgers don’t sign him to a record setting extension.  The Rangers are one of three or four teams that have the resources to pay big money to a pitcher the caliber of Kershaw.  The Rangers were the home town team that Clayton rooted for when he was growing up.  Kershaw has admitted that he is interested in seeing what offers the free agent market would bring him.  Now with Kershaw’s best friend on his favorite team in his home town, why wouldn’t he opt to see what the Rangers offer him in free agency? 

Prediction: Kershaw plays out 2014 as a Dodger and signs with the Rangers before the 2015 season.

Man, I hope I'm wrong.