Three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw signed a 1-year, $17 million contract with the Dodgers on Friday, bringing him back to Chavez Ravine for his 15th season.Kershaw, who is only 26 strikeouts behind Don Sutton's franchise record of 2,969, has experienced a tumultuous half-decade full of postseason disappointments and extended trips to the IL.The 2021 season had both, as Kershaw missed over 2 months and was later shut down for the playoffs while suffering from left elbow inflammation, leading to a loss to the Braves in the NLCS.The extended problem could be a reason that the Dodgers elected to bring Kershaw back on a short-term deal as opposed to locking him into a deal similar to Max Scherzer, who signed with the Mets for 3 years and $103 million.The soon-to-be-35-year-old was placed on the IL on July 7 and missed 71 days before returning on Sept. 14, only making 4 starts before being shut down for the season.Luckily, all MRIs were clean and showed no ligament damage or need for the dreaded Tommy John surgery associated with torn UCLs. Kershaw's ailment shortened what was a good season for the future Hall-of-Famer, who posted 127 strikeouts and a 0.98 WHIP in 106.1 innings pitched through his July 3 start, helping the 2020 champs to a 52-31 record.As the old adage goes, the most important ability is availability, and Kershaw has struggled with that ability over the last 5 years: since 2016, he has not had over 178 innings pitched or over 28 starts in a season, in addition to having at least 1 playoff start scratched in 2020 and 2021.He missed all of July and August 2016 with a herniated disc, spent 39 days on the IL with a back injury in 2017, and missed another month in 2018 with a July back strain. Because of the emergence of Walker Buehler and Julio Urias as legitimate aces, Kershaw missing time will not be as detrimental as in year's past, but it may have already prevented him from another monumental contract.