It appears Clayton Kershaw’s time as a Dodger has not come to an end.

According to multiple reports, Kershaw has agreed to a one-year contract worth $17 million to return to the team, keeping the future Hall of Fame pitcher with the only organization he has ever played for and ending his first stint as a free agent.

The deal, which also includes $5 million in potential performance bonuses, will become official once Kershaw passes a physical.

Following reports of the deal, Kershaw posted a photo of himself on Instagram with the words, “We back!”

Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner and eight-time All-Star, is 185-84 with a 2.49 ERA and 2,670 strikeouts in 14 seasons with the Dodgers. He battled soreness in his left elbow and forearm that forced him to miss most of the second half of last season and denied him a chance to pitch in the postseason.

The Dodgers will surely be cautious with Kershaw, who turns 34 later this month, but if he can stay healthy he adds depth to a rotation that is anchored by Walker Buehler and Julio Urias. Tony Gonsolin, David Price and former Angel Andrew Heaney, who signed a one-year deal in November, make up the rest of the staff at the moment. Dustin May is not expected to be back until later in the summer as he continues his recovery from Tommy John surgery.

Now that the lockout has ended, starting pitcher Trevor Bauer was placed on administrative leave again. MLB’s investigation into the allegations made by a San Diego woman regarding sexual encounters at Bauer’s Pasadena home last April and May remains open, and Bauer still faces potential discipline from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred for violating the joint domestic violence policy adopted in conjunction with the players’ union in 2015.

Any potential discipline by MLB is not contingent on criminal charges (the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges last month) and Bauer has the right to appeal any eventual decision by the commissioner.

Kershaw was one of the most dominant pitchers in the game for a decade, averaging 16 wins and 200 innings while posting a 2.31 ERA from 2010 to 2019. During that stretch, he often led the National League in ERA (five times), wins (three times), strikeouts (three times) and WHIP (four times). He won both the NL MVP and Cy Young in 2014 when he went 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 198-1/3 innings, throwing six complete games in 27 starts.

Injuries, most often to his back, have limited him at times, and his fastball velocity has dropped into the lower 90s in recent years, but he remains very effective.

During the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Kershaw had a 2.16 ERA in 10 regular-season starts and helped the Dodgers win their first World Series title since 1988, going 2-0 with a 2.31 ERA in two starts against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Last season, he had a 3.39 ERA through his first 18 starts but experienced discomfort around his left forearm and elbow in early July. He returned in the middle of September, but the fifth start of his return (Oct. 1) was his last. He walked off the Dodger Stadium mound in the second inning with a recurrence of the same issue.

After the season ended, the Dodgers did not tender him an $18.4 million qualifying offer, saying that they still wanted to bring the franchise icon back but didn’t want to pressure him into making a decision quicker than he wanted to.

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There was much speculation that Kershaw, who was drafted by the Dodgers in 2006 and made his major league debut two years later, might sign with the Texas Rangers, who play minutes from his offseason home. The native Texan is close with Rangers general manager Chris Young, Rangers manager Chris Woodward spent three seasons as Dodgers third base coach and the Rangers signed former Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager to a lucrative contract before the lockout went into effect.

Speaking with reporters before news of the signing Friday afternoon, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he hadn’t spoken to Kershaw since MLB’s lockout of the players ended a day earlier, but he acknowledged it would “feel very strange” if Kershaw (or free agent relief pitcher Kenley Jansen), weren’t with the team going into the start of spring training this weekend.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal was the first to report that Kershaw was re-signing with the Dodgers.