Red Sox and right Corey Kluber Agreed to a one-year deal plus a club option for 2024. Kluber will be guaranteed $10 million in the deal, though there are unknown incentives of $2 million that could increase Wasserman’s client’s final payday. The 2024 option is valued at $11 million, though there are escalators and incentives for this season as well.
Kluber, who turned 37 in April, has been one of the best shooters alive, winning Cy Young Awards in both 2014 and 2017. This was part of a six-year franchise streak with Cleveland from 2013 to 2018, during which Kluber posted a 2.96. ERA over the course of that time with a strike rate of 27.7%, a walk rate of 5.2%, and a 44.9% ground ball rate.
Injuries limited him to just eight starts through 2019 and 2020, with a broken forearm and torn rotator cuff the primary offenders. He’s been ramping it up since then, but as more of a tailback pitcher rather than the ace he was with Cleveland, he’s signed one-year deals with the Yankees and Rays over the past two seasons. He started 16 times in 2021 with a 3.83 ERA and 31 starts in 2022 with a 4.34 ERA. His strike rate is down 34.7% in 2017 to 24% last year and 20.2% in 2022. He still avoids free passes, something he has long excelled at, hitting a 3% walk rate this year at a few points short of his career The professional mark is 5.4%.
Statcast pegged Kluber’s average four-seam fastball average speed at 88.9 mph in 2022, a significant drop from pre-injury, when he was in the 93-95 range. However, he still found ways to be effective overall, with his average knockout speed in the 80th percentile, his hit hit rate in the 75th percentile and his barrel rate in the 57th. Given his age and checkered health history, MLBTR sign On a one-year deal, it’s worth $12 million, with Kluber going in a little less than that, though incentives could make up the difference.
For the Sox, adding another starting pitcher makes sense given the uncertainty in their current options. Nick Bivita He’s probably the only strong member of their group at the moment, eg Chris Sale And the James Paxton They barely made it in the last three years. Brian Bellew And the Garrett Whitlock The pencils are in two points, even though they are small and only have 20 MLB’s between them. Kluber is a question mark in and of itself, but adding it to the picture still reduces the likelihood that a club will have to rely on depth options such as Conor Siebold or Josh Winkowski Throughout the year.
Boston was also linked to several other starters throughout the season, incl Zack EvelynAnd the Carlos RodonAnd the Kodai SingaAnd the Andrew HeaneyAnd the Seth LugoAnd the Tyler AndersonAnd the Rich Hill And the Nathan Ivaldi. These players have all since found new clubs, with yesterday Ivaldi signing a two-year contract with Rangers. Chad Jennings of the Athletic Reports indicate that the Red Sox offered Eovaldi a three-year deal earlier this month, though the guarantee on that offer is unknown. Regardless, Eovaldi apparently turned it down in favor of the offer from Texas and Boston and then switched to Kluber.
Kolber was previously linked to the Angels and Cubs, though the latter’s interest was prior to signing Jameson Tellon And the Drew Smillie. If the Angels are still looking for rotation upgrades, some of the remaining free agents include Michael WashaAnd the Johnny Cueto And the Zack Grenk.
The deal brings the Red Sox payroll to $186 million and the competitive tax credit number to $212 million, according to accounts. list resource. That should leave them room for more additions if they so choose, since they’ve run up to $236 million in payroll in the past, per Cradle baseball contractsand they’re still more than $20 million shy of the luxury tax threshold of $233 million.
ESPN’s Jeff Bassin It first reported that Kluber and the Red Sox were in agreement on a one-year deal plus a club option. Alex Speer from The Boston Globe First reported $10M warranty and onwards Submitted Some details about incentives. John Heyman from the New York Post We first reported the $11 million option figure and that the deal contains incentives.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
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