One of the oddest stats last season was Clayton Kershaw posting a 2.79 ERA but winning only eight games. What makes it just a bit less odd is that Kershaw averaged barely six innings per start, and that was due in part to the Dodgers' caution with their talented young southpaw. Well, they won't be quite as cautious this season:

Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw, who is about to start his third major league season, won't need to be kept on as tight a leash in terms of his workload as he has been in the past, Dodgers manager Joe Torre said after the team's first full-squad workout of spring training Friday -- and after Kershaw threw live batting practice for the first time since reporting to camp more than a week ago.

Kershaw made 30 starts last year, his first full season in the majors, but threw only 171 innings, an average of less than six per start. Torre blamed it largely on Kershaw's tendency to throw too many pitches in the early innings, but it also was due in part to the organization's reluctance to allow its budding star to throw too many innings at such a young age.

Kershaw will turn 22 next month.

"He would get frustrated when all of a sudden, he had thrown 100 pitches in four innings," Torre said. "It frustrated the [heck] out of him.

A bit of poetic license taken by Mr. Torre, as Kershaw never threw 100 pitches in four innings last year. In fact, it looks like there was just one game -- this one -- in which Kershaw threw 100 pitches in five innings. And that was his very first start of the season.

The Dodgers certainly did limit Kershaw's pitches. He topped out at 112 pitches (twice), but otherwise was almost uniformly allowed to throw in the 95-105 range. Which was one reason he threw only 171 innings.

The other reason? After pitching against the Padres on the 4th of September, Kershaw didn't start again until the 27th; essentially he lost three starts and (roughly) 18 innings because of minor shoulder soreness. Granted, if Kershaw were older maybe the Dodgers would have allowed him to pitch through the soreness.

I believe the Dodgers have handled Kershaw almost perfectly. In his three (full) professional seasons he's thrown 122, 171, and 184 innings. He's never thrown more than 112 pitches in a major league game. He'll be 22 in three weeks, and whatever happens next the Dodgers can reasonably claim they've done everything they could to ensure Kershaw's future health.

Maybe the leash will be a bit looser this season and he's sure to win more than eight games. But unless he throws more strikes -- and he made real progress in the second half of last season -- Kershaw's not going to average significantly more innings per start, which should be the real point of the thing.

Update: As a friend points out, Kershaw's injury was to his non-throwing shoulder, suffered in a pregame collision with a wall. Missing a few weeks might have been good for him, but it wasn't in the Dodgers' plans.