Kershaw: Loss of Ellis 'a tremendous subtraction'

One day after being brought to tears when the Los Angeles Dodgers traded A.J. Ellis to the Philadelphia Phillies, injured ace Clayton Kershaw addressed the exchange that brought veteran backstop Carlos Ruiz to the West Coast.

"It was hard, man. It was really hard," Kershaw told reporters, including Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times, after throwing a 60-pitch bullpen Friday in anticipation of a potential September return.

"Carlos Ruiz is awesome. Heard nothing but great things. But it’s a tremendous subtraction from this team. There’s no doubt about it. Just what he brought to the team, as one of my best friends, but I think everybody.

"He really brought that presence that not a lot of people have, where you can just get along with everybody. And really help everybody’s careers. That’s something that’s not easily replaced."

Ellis was traded to the Phillies after spending his entire nine-year career with the Dodgers. Los Angeles also sent minor-league pitcher Tommy Bergjans and a player to be named later.

Kershaw agreed with a reporter's suggestion that losing Ellis was similar to watching a member of his family leave.

"Yeah. There’s no getting around it. It’s really hard," he explained. "It’s been a rough couple of days. He lives in Milwaukee, so it’s not like we’re going to be hanging out in the offseason. We’ll obviously keep in touch and hang out."

Ellis caught 21 of Kershaw’s 33 starts in 2015, and developed quite the chemistry with the three-time Cy Young winner during their time together.

"The pitcher-catcher relationship is pretty one-sided. We get all the credit, and then we take all the blame, and the catcher’s just kind of there, and that’s the way it is," the left-hander said. "But A.J. thrives at that. He prepares harder than anybody. ... It's not going to be easy not throwing to him anymore, for sure."

The left-hander said he wouldn't let himself consider the trade as a move based on Ruiz's accomplishments and reputation.

"It’s just a really abrupt ending," Kershaw said. "A.J. kind of described it like a car wreck. We both knew that this might have been our last season together. But we’ve been saying that for four years, and it keeps working out. We realized what a huge blessing it was to have that time. But when you see each other every day, you play with each other every day, you take it for granted."