Dodgers transfer Kershaw to 60-day DL

Sidelined since late June with a herniated disc in his back, Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw won't be eligible to return until Aug. 27, at the earliest, as the 27-year-old was transferred to the 60-day disabled list Wednesday, the team announced.

It remains unclear, though, if Kershaw will be able to return at all this year, as manager Dave Roberts suggested that surgery is a possibility for the three-time Cy Young award winner after he suffered a setback in a simulated game July 16.

"With the way it flared up, it's more of an indication that surgery is more of a possibility, with the way his back responded," Roberts told Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times. "But we're still hopeful that he's going to be back."

At most, Kershaw would make just a handful more starts this season, but according to Andrew Hecht, the chief of spinal surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, it's not totally improbable. Because Kershaw's discomfort is limited to his back, he may to be able to avoid surgery, Hecht said.

"In the absence of having a lot of buttock pain or leg pain, we typically counsel athletes not to have surgery for that problem," Hecht said. "Because micro-diskectomy is most effective for people who have buttock and leg pain, not just back pain. We don't usually do micro-diskectomy surgeries on people with back pain only."

Still, it remains unclear when Kershaw will resume baseball activities.

"Clayton will do everything he can to get back," Roberts said in July. "We're better when he is active, obviously. It's something we have to deal with and we have to continue to try and win baseball games."

Before hitting the DL (like so many of his fellow Dodgers starters), Kershaw was in the midst of the one of the greatest pitching seasons in baseball history, fashioning a 1.79 ERA (217 ERA+) with a 0.73 WHIP and all-time record 16.11 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 16 starts.