The Red Sox said they wanted to sign a starting pitcher who is a leader in the clubhouse and someone they could trust on the mound in a playoff game.
They got their man, albeit one who is in the final stretch of his career.
Corey Kluber, the 37-year-old who won a pair of Cy Young Awards with Cleveland in 2014 and ‘17, is in an agreement with the Red Sox on a one-year deal worth $10 million with a team option for 2024, according to ESPN.
Kluber isn’t the front-line starter he used to be, as injuries derailed his career in his mid-30s, but he’s been serviceable for the Yankees and Rays over the last two seasons.
In 2021, he made 16 starts for the Yanks with a 3.83 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 80 innings. This past season with the Rays, Kluber made 31 starts with a 4.34 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 164 innings.
Most impressively, Kluber walked just 21 batters all year, giving him a walk rate of 1.2 per nine innings, the best in the league and lowest of his career.
He was also in the top-25th percentile in hard-hit percentage, top-20th percentile in average exit velocity and top-4th percentile in chase rate, according to Baseball Savant. His whiff percentage on his changeup, curveball and cutter were all above 25% last year, despite averaging just 86-89 mph on his fastballs.
Kluber grew up in Texas but lives in Massachusetts during the offseason because his wife, Amanda, is from Winchester.
He should slot in the back end of the Red Sox rotation, one that is deep but has just one pitcher in the prime of his career: Nick Pivetta.
The others are either older and coming off injuries, or younger and just starting their careers.
Chris Sale, James Paxton and Kluber will all be 34 or older on Opening Day and have had major injuries in the last three years. Garrett Whitlock and Brayan Bello are 26 and 23, respectively, with just 20 major league starts between them.
Pivetta, who will be 30 on Opening Day, is the only pitcher who has been a regular big league starter in recent years. And while he’s been a slightly-below-average starter, he has made 63 starters in the last two years and represents the most durable starter on the staff.
There’s also the possibility that Pivetta could be traded this offseason. He’s under team control for two more seasons and is entering his second year of arbitration eligibility, expected to make $5.9 million in 2023, according to MLB Trade Rumors’ projections.
The Sox still have a lot of space under the luxury tax threshold — though there isn’t a dire need to be under, aside from the team trying to avoid a small tax and minor competitive penalties in future years — so trading Pivetta wouldn’t be necessary for salary purposes, but his team-friendly control could net them some prospects in return.
It just seems as if they’ve got too many starting pitchers.
They could move Whitlock back to the bullpen, but there’s been a strong desire to let him go a full year in the rotation to see how he develops. Several team officials have already publicly committed to him as a starter and Whitlock is preparing this offseason to be a starter.
Tanner Houck is also preparing as a starter, though there has been less of a commitment as the Red Sox like what he brought as a late-inning reliever last year.
Another interesting option: moving Sale to the bullpen.
The soon-to-be 34-year-old has struggled to stay healthy in recent years and had issues maintaining velocity. The Red Sox do have some lefties in the ‘pen already, with Darwinzon Hernandez, Joely Rodriguez and Josh Taylor expected to compete for spots, but Sale could add depth to the late innings if he was willing to take on a new role.
With more starting depth than they’ve had in years, the Red Sox should get creative as the offseason progresses.
