SARASOTA, Fla. — Orioles left-hander Trevor Rogers isn’t expected to be ready for Opening Day after a partial dislocation of his right kneecap during the offseason, Baltimore general manager Mike Elias said Thursday.

Elias told reporters at Orioles camp that Rogers sustained the knee subluxation in January. It wasn’t clear exactly when or how Rogers sustained the injury. The pitcher is playing catch with the team in Florida but is significantly behind schedule.

Baltimore acquired the former All-Star lefty and first-round draft pick from Miami in a deadline trade for two top prospects this past July. Rogers was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk just three weeks later after going 0-2 with a 7.11 ERA in four starts. He allowed 25 hits and 15 earned runs over 19 innings.

Rogers provided a left-handed option for the Orioles’ rotation, though the team seems set for now with five right-handers. Offseason additions Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano have joined returners Zach Eflin, Dean Kremer and Grayson Rodriguez.

The 27-year-old Rogers has a 15-34 record with a 4.36 ERA in 84 big league starts, the first 80 with the Marlins from 2020 until the trade this past summer. Miami drafted with the 13th overall pick in the 2017 amateur draft out of Carlsbad High School in New Mexico.

Rogers was an All-Star in 2021, the same season that he finished as the runner-up behind Cincinnati’s Jonathan India for National League Rookie of the Year. He was 7-8 with a 2.64 ERA in 25 starts that year and struck out 157 batters in 133 innings.

Elias said second baseman Jorge Mateo, recovering from left elbow surgery on his non-throwing arm in late August, also likely wouldn’t be ready for the March 27 opener at Toronto even though he is playing catch and taking part in hitting progression.

Mateo got hurt July 23 in a game against Miami when he collided with shortstop Gunnar Henderson as they both dove for a grounder behind the second base bag.

The Orioles and the 29-year-old Mateo avoided a salary arbitration hearing when he agreed to a $3.55 million, one-year contract in January. The deal includes a $5.5 million team option for 2026. The option could increase by $500,000 based on plate appearances in 2025: $125,000 each for 460, 480, 500 and 520.

NORTH PORT, Fla. — Braves star outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. took batting practice at spring training Thursday, and right-hander Spencer Strider has already thrown a side session this week at their Florida camp.

While neither Acuna, the unanimous 2023 NL MVP, nor Strider, a 20-game winner from that same season, are expected to be ready for Atlanta’s opener while recovering from injuries, manager Brian Snitker said both are making good progress to be ready early this season.

“We’re going to make two really big trades at some point in time early in the season and get, you know, an All-Star and a potential Cy Young Award winner back,” Snitker told MLB Network.

Snitker said both players are on their own programs “because they are still in rehab.”

Acuna tore his left ACL on May 26, and the 27-year-old slugger had surgery on June 6. The 26-year-old Strider had internal brace surgery last April to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow.

Along with BP on the field with teammates, Acuna has run sprints multiple times in the outfield already at camp.

“Ronald’s doing everything. You know, he hasn’t done a lot of the cutting and things like that,” Snitker said. “But, you know, I’ve seen him in Atlanta before I came down. And as you’re seeing right now, I mean, he’s doing great. I mean, he’s checking all the boxes. He looks great.”

Strider threw a side session Wednesday, the first official day of workout for Braves pitchers and catchers. He was 20-5 with a 3.86 ERA in 32 starts in 2023, when he led the league with 281 strikeouts.

“The ball’s coming out really good,” Snitker told MLB Network.

Acuna hit .337 with 41 homers, 106 RBIs and 73 stolen bases in 2023, when he became the first player in baseball history to hit 40 homers and steal 70 bases while Atlanta won its sixth NL East title in a row.

He played only 49 games last season before sustaining a complete ACL tear on May 26. He had a double in the first inning of that game, and his knee gave way when he stopped on a stolen base attempt to return to second base.

Acuna tore his right ACL on July 20, 2021, and returned the following April.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Clayton Kershaw admittedly wasn’t prepared for what foot surgery would entail. He spent four weeks on crutches and another four weeks in a walking boot. For more than a month, every step brought with it excruciating pain.

Being a normal dad to his four children was difficult. And yet Kershaw, who has contemplated retirement for years now, went through a painstaking rehab for the chance to pitch again this summer, even though his Los Angeles Dodgers had just secured another championship.

This time, retirement wasn’t even entertained.

“I hope this is the last time I have to rehab — I’m kind of done with that — but at the same time, I don’t want that to be the reason that I stop playing,” Kershaw said after Thursday’s workout.

“I don’t want to be, ‘I just can’t do it hurt,’ you know? Hopefully I can walk out on my own terms, whenever that is. But it just didn’t feel like it was the right time, even though we won. Being on the shelf for that wasn’t the way that I had scripted it out. Still super thankful to be a part of it last year and get to see everything, but I want to be out there when it happens.”

Kershaw, who will celebrate his 37th birthday on March 19, underwent shoulder surgery in November of 2023, made his way back into the Dodgers’ rotation in late July of the following summer, made seven starts, aggravated a long-standing toe injury and didn’t pitch again, sitting idly by in October.

Shortly after the Dodgers secured their second championship in five years — and their first in a full season since 1988 — Kershaw underwent surgery to address a bone spur and a ruptured plantar plate in his left foot, as well as a procedure to remedy a meniscus tear in his left knee.

Rehabbing the former proved to be far more difficult than rehabbing the latter. The Dodgers saved a roster spot for him nonetheless, waiting for Kershaw to gain more clarity on his timeline before finalizing a contract. His new deal — with a guarantee of $7.5 million and a host of incentives — was agreed to on Tuesday and became official on Thursday.

In recent years, Kershaw has toyed with the idea of finishing his career with his hometown Texas Rangers, who employ Chris Young, one of his best friends, as president of baseball operations.

That is no longer the case.

“I’m a Dodger,” Kershaw said. “I’m so thankful for this organization. I don’t think I put enough merit on it at times, at what it means to be able to be in one organization for your entire career. You look at people throughout all of sports that have been able to do that, and it is special. It is. I don’t want to lose sight of that. Getting to be here for my whole career, however long that is, is definitely a goal. Thankful that I get to continue this journey.”

Kershaw has been walking on his own for roughly six weeks and was able to begin running when he reported to Camelback Ranch earlier this week. Kershaw is currently only able to long-toss, but he anticipates throwing bullpen sessions at some point next month and alluded to making it back into the rotation at some point in late May or early June. At that point, he’ll slot somewhere within a loaded rotation featuring Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki.

Whether this is his last year remains to be seen.

“It’s been year to year for a number of years now,” said Kershaw, whose last multiyear contract expired after the 2021 season. “We’ll just see how it goes at the end of this year.”

After finishing an eight-minute scrum with the media, Kershaw grabbed his rolling suitcase and went back to Highland Park, Texas, where he will continue his rehab. He anticipates being back and forth between the team and his home until getting into the late stages of his rehab, similar to how he navigated last year.

It wasn’t necessarily planned this way, but at this point, he appreciates it.

“From a family perspective, I’m very thankful that I get to go home a little bit at the beginning of the season and get to do the school stuff,” Kershaw said. “Cali’s in fourth grade, and it’s getting harder to leave; she’s actually learning stuff. So it is a little bit harder to leave home and stuff like that. But at the same time, it’s not by design. I’m not even going to think about next year, but, if I was healthy, it wouldn’t be that way.”