Corey Kluber Traded to the Texas Rangers

By: Chris Larson 

The Texas Rangers upgraded their starting rotation with another addition earlier today as they acquired right-hander, Corey Kluber from the Cleveland Indians. In exchange of Corey Kluber, the Texas Rangers sent Cleveland centerfielder, Delino Deshields Jr. along with hard-throwing, right-handed reliever, Emmanuel Clase. In addition to the three-players, the deal included some cash going back to the Rangers, but it is reportedly under ($1) million dollars according to Evan Grant of Dallas Morning News on Twitter.

Going into this offseason, the Texas Rangers were poised to have a big offseason and wanted to make a significant splash or two. After losing out on Gerrit Cole, who wound up signing his record-breaking nine-year, $324 million dollar deal with the New York Yankees and losing out on third baseman, Anthony Rendon who wound up later signing with American League West rival the Los Angeles Angels at the Winter Meetings, the Rangers knew they had to bring in a big name sooner than later. With all due respect to Corey Kluber, he's not at the same star level as Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon, but he is certainly a pitcher that many baseball fans recognize and one that will allow the Rangers to have a frontline guy for their starting rotation.

Of course, health is going to be a big question mark for Corey Kluber, who is entering his age 34 season next year and dealt with a right ulna fracture from May onward last season, that caused him to be shutdown once August rolled around. Internally among the Cleveland Indians organization, there was some hope that a couple of rehab assignments down in the minor leagues, would be all that Corey Kluber needed and that he could finish the year off at the big league level, but that was obviously not the case. Therefore, there is reason to exercise some caution with this trade, but a lot of credit has to go to the Texas Rangers for taking on the entire salary commitment for Kluber as well.

As previously mentioned, the Cleveland Indians reportedly included money in the deal, but even if that amount is approximately ($1) million dollars, that means that the Texas Rangers will take on Kluber's entire salary for the 2020 regular season which would be ($16.5) million dollars. In addition, Kluber has an ($18) million dollar team option on his contract or a ($1) million dollar team buyout for the 2021 regular season. As a result, he could end up pitching for the Texas Rangers for two more seasons before hitting free agency prior to his age 36 season.

That likely played a significant factor in why the Texas Rangers decided to target Corey Kluber as a guy that they wanted to add to the front of their starting rotation. Of course, they know there's a risk with his health track record, but with a new competitive window getting ready to open up for the Texas Rangers, the time to start winning is now. Furthermore, with the team's stable of young starting pitchers that are going to be coming up to the big league level sooner than later, this allows the organization more time to properly develop those arms and not rush them to the major league team.

One of those starting pitchers is 22-year old left-hander, Kolby Allard who the Texas Rangers acquired from the Atlanta Braves prior to last year's July 31st Trade Deadline in exchange of reliever, Chris Martin. Allard made nine starts at the big league level last year and posted a 4.96 ERA with a (.281) Opponent Batting Average Against and a (.327) Batting Average on Balls In Play (BABIP). As a result of that and considering that Allard is only 22 years old, the Rangers might view this as an opportunity to give him more time down in Triple-A to develop. As it stands right now without Corey Kluber on the depth chart, Kolby Allard would be the Rangers number five starter so he ends up getting pushed back to the sixth spot with the addition of Kluber.

In addition, adding Corey Kluber to the mix allows the Texas Rangers to build sort of a bridge as they wait for some of their other top starting pitching prospects to arrive at the big league level. The Rangers number three prospect is right-hander, Cole Winn who is expected to arrive at the big league level come 2021 and has the stuff to be a front of the rotation guy. In addition, the Texas Rangers number 4 prospect, right-hander Hans Crouse is also expected to arrive to the big leagues come 2021 and has the stuff to be a middle-to-back of the rotation arm. As a result, Corey Kluber adds veteran stability to the front of the Rangers starting rotation and pairs well with the rest of the big league rotation to build a bridge to the future impact arms in the organization.

On the other side of the coin, the Cleveland Indians received hard-throwing, right-handed reliever, Emmanuel Clase who was really the headliner for the Indians in this trade. Clase will turn 22 years old next March and made his big league debut this past August. After being called up to the big leagues, Clase posted a 2.31 ERA over 23.1 innings of work with a strikeouts-per-9 rate of (8.1) and a runs allowed per 9 innings value of (3.09). Obviously, based on those metrics alone, there is some risk with taking on a young reliever like this, but the Cleveland Indians likely view Clase as someone that can step into a bullpen role as soon as this coming season.

However, according to Zack Meisel of The Athletic on Twitter, the Cleveland Indians have already received trade inquiries regarding Clase from other teams around the league. Of course, that is all speculation and there's no reason to believe that the Indians are actively shopping him for an even better return, but there's always the chance that a team blows Cleveland away with an even better offer and they end up dealing him away. With that being said though, just assume that Emmanuel Clase will be with the Indians big league bullpen next season.

A bulk of the innings that Clase pitched last season came in the seventh inning where he posted an opponent batting line against of: .208/.269/.375 with (2) earned runs and (6) strikeouts. It was a very small sample size however (6.1 innings pitched), but that gives the Cleveland Indians another high-power arm to put into a late game high-leverage situation and to pair with other relievers like Adam Cimber and Brad Hand. In fact, if Clase does indeed earn a bullpen spot on the big league roster coming out of Spring Training, he will likely get the seventh inning with Cimber being utilized in the eighth and Hand coming into the game during the ninth inning to get the save.

Besides Emmanuel Clase, the other piece of the trade was centerfielder, Delino DeShields Jr. DeShields Jr. gives the Cleveland Indians a big league ready outfielder who can immediately occupy a spot in the outfield mix. As it stands right now, the Cleveland Indians would have a starting outfield consisting of: Jordan Luplow in left, Oscar Mercado in center, and Franmil Reyes in rightfield. However, there is some belief that Reyes would be better off being the team's Designated Hitter which would then shift either Mercado, Luplow, or Greg Allen over to rightfield and open up a spot for Delino DeShields Jr. in centerfield.

It's sort of a mix-and-match type of scenario for the Cleveland Indians outfield trio and will likely depend heavily on matchups against the opposing team. However, Delino DeShields Jr. is a guy who can provide additional offense to the Indians starting lineup, but it's not going to be high power offense either. DeShields Jr. concluded last season with a batting line of: .249/.325/.347 over 408 plate appearances with (89) hits, (15) doubles, (4) triples, (4) home runs, (32) RBI, (38) walks, and (100) strikeouts. It's not really an upgrade over any of the offensive numbers that the aforementioned Jordan Luplow, Oscar Mercado, Franmil Reyes, or Greg Allen put up last season.

From a defensive standpoint, there's some things to like about Delino DeShields Jr. and his glove. Over the span of 860.2 innings of work last season, DeShields Jr. recorded (6) Defensive Runs Saved and had an Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) of (2.2) in centerfield. Among centerfielders that recorded at least 600 innings of work at that position last season, DeShields Jr. tied for seventh in Defensive Runs Saved and came in thirteenth in Ultimate Zone Rating. When you combine all of those metrics together, it gives Delino DeShields Jr. a Defensive rating value of (3.5), according to data compiled by FanGraphs.

From the surface, it would appear as though the Texas Rangers got the better end of this deal, but only time will tell what ends up coming from it. As mentioned, Corey Kluber is a great guy to have anchoring down the front of any team's starting rotation, but there are definitely question marks concerning his health and his age. The Texas Rangers were comfortable with those risks and hope that he can help them to contend for a postseason berth come next year. A new competitive window is getting ready to open for the Rangers and they are going to want to seize that opportunity sooner than later.

For the Cleveland Indians, this deal includes a lot of risk and involves a hard-throwing reliever that has his own question marks as well as an outfielder that is a glove-first type of outfielder with only average offensive numbers. However, with a change of scenery, Delino DeShields Jr. might very well become the Cleveland Indians next best outfielder and Emmanuel Clase might play a significant role in the success of the Indians big league bullpen as soon as this coming year. Again, only time will tell how this trade ends up working out for both the Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians.