The Red Sox are moving struggling veteran Corey Kluber from the starting rotation to the bullpen, manager Alex Cora told hosts Andy Gresh and Christian Fauria in a radio appearance on WEEI this afternoon (Twitter link). They’ll move back to a five-man rotation consisting of Chris Sale, James Paxton, Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck and Brayan Bello for the time being.
Kluber hasn’t made an appearance out of the bullpen since 2013. The 37-year-old signed a one-year deal worth a guaranteed $10MM this offseason, with the hope that he’d provide some stable innings to a group that was teeming with injury risk (Sale, Paxton) and young starters who’ll be on innings limits due to lighter workloads in 2022 (Whitlock, Houck). Things haven’t played out that way at all, however.
Through his first nine starts with Boston, Kluber has been tattooed for a 6.26 ERA. His 88.6 mph average fastball is the lowest of his career, and he’s also sporting career-worst marks in strikeout rate (17.7%), walk rate (9.4%) and HR/9 (2.38). He has just one quality start on the year and has only twice recorded an out in the sixth inning. On average, Kluber’s starts have lasted 4 2/3 frames.
Kluber becomes the second member of the Opening Day rotation to slide into a relief role. The performances from Houck and Bello have also displaced Nick Pivetta, who has started more Red Sox games than any pitcher dating back to 2021 and led the team in innings pitched last season.
Houck, 26, has had some rough starts, though the resulting 4.99 ERA is still superior to what Kluber has managed so far. Houck’s most recent outing — six innings, one run, three hits, two walks, eight punchouts — in particular seemed to cement the decision to move Kluber to a relief role. Overall, while Houck’s ERA is only south of 5.00 by the literal narrowest of margins, he’s shown roughly league-average strikeout and walk rates with a strong 51.8% ground-ball rate and a quality 0.92 HR/9 mark. Houck has struggled with men on base, leading to a well below average 61.8% strand rate, but there are plenty of positives in his overall performance.
Bello, 24, has made seven starts and logged a 4.08 ERA through 35 1/3 frames. He’s been slightly better than average in terms of strikeout and walk rate (23.6% and 7.6%, respectively), and his massive 59% ground-ball rate is among the league’s best. Bello has run into problems with the long ball, serving up homers at nearly double the rate of Houck (1.78 HR/9). He’s managed to strand a whopping 81% of his opponents, which will be tough to maintain, but if he can scale back the frequency of his home runs, the strikeout/walk/ground-ball trifecta should allow him to continue finding success.
It should of course be noted that the move to the bullpen for Kluber isn’t necessarily permanent — nor is Pivetta’s shift to a similar role. Both Sale and especially Paxton remain injury risks, and the Sox likely still want to keep an eye on the innings totals of Whitlock (82 1/3 innings in 2022) and Houck (60 innings). As such, it’s quite likely that there will be additional opportunities in the rotation as the season wears on, though whether it’s Pivetta, Kluber, someone from the farm system or an external addition who’s making those appearances will be dependent on how Kluber and Pivetta perform in relief and whether they remain stretched out in multi-inning roles.
Wow. That was a long fall off.
the next move dfa Kluber
The next headline: Red Sox move Cory Kluber into assisted living.
DFA Kluber and make room for Porcello return! And then have mini helmet ice bowl give away night. The fans deserve a cool treat! Red Sox, why do you make them think you’re poor? Give gifts and make big contracts and use MIT science to bring back Porcello.
Reds – He was their opening day starter too.
Corey doesn’t have a Clue-ber to the pen…
Curly – It’s amazing nobody has called out Cora for blatantly lying when he said just last weekend that Kluber would start against Arizona.
I guess people are so used to Cora lying that it’s no big deal anymore when he does it.
He’s never been a Red.
If he isn’t a Red, is he in the middle or far to the right?
He was responding to the user named ‘Reds’.
That comment fooled me, too
Jon – Thank you!
The bullpen might bring the old Kluber back. It’s clear there is a drop off in his stuff but sometimes the bullpen lets them play up a bit by shorter stints. As long as he still has that curveball and can bring some extra life to his fastball he could be still very good. Hoping that helps him get his mojo back. He was fun to watch.
The next move dfa Kluber
Yeah you said that already. Too bad you don’t have as much class displaying your passion for a snide remark as the class of the man you’re commenting on.
Getoff – What davidle could have said was what Horace said, “The bullpen does not need pitchers who give up multiple hits and runs in the first inning that they work.” or what Pedro said, “ I Hate to say it but Kluber is washed out. His stuff is all flat, the fastball is down in velo (which was expected) and the biggest reason is command. He was signed to eat innings whilst cutting down on free passes. He isn’t doing that.”!
The result of those two comments is what probably should happen…..DFA
JC, I realize Kluber’s numbers don’t portend well for him. People can’t pitch forever, I know that. Kluber is no different from anyone else who’s ever played the game for over 100 years. If davidlebron had stated it as you have, I would sadly have to agree. But Corey Kluber has meant a great deal to us Indians/Guardians fans, and has represented himself and the game with the utmost of professionalism and class, as most fans would like all ballplayers to do. His demise does not deserve to be predicted mockingly not just once, but twice. As Colonel Jessup told Kaffee in “A Few Good Men,” “I’d prefer you just said ‘thank you.’”
At age 40 David Ortiz put up amazing numbers. He was the AL LEADER in:
OPS – 1.021
Slugging – .620
RBIs – 127
2B – 48.
He also had:
Batting Ave – .315
HRs – 38
He deserves a great big THANK YOU.
If Kluber wanted a ‘thank you’ he could have retired at the top of his game, so Cleveland fans can say thank you. No thank you in Boston. In retrospect, I wish he had signed elsewhere.
To Kluber’s credit, he took the demotion to the bullpen with total class (unlike Pivetta). The next step is still a DFA (if the Red Sox had a starting pitching prospect at AAA, Kluber’s DFA might have already been received).
No. Guys like Houck & Whitlock can “play up” their stuff in the bullpen but not guys like Kluber. You can’t “play up” an 88 mph fastball. Also this guy is not accustomed to the bullpen whatsoever. Completely different routine for a 37 year old who is used to doing things a certain way. I don’t see this ending well.
Key words…37 Years old….88 MPH Fastball…DFA.
I disagree. In his heyday his sinker would usually hit 93 and change. If shorter max effort spurts out of the pen can get him back to 90 mph I believe he could be effective again.
joe – The fastball is not the problem.
Why do I say that?
Because it’s currently at 88.6 and last year it was at 88.9 yet he still managed a 4.34 ERA which ain’t bad. Correspondingly his SO/9 is down from 7.6 to 7.3
The problem is his control. Last year he led the league in BB/9 with a 1.2 and this year’s 3.9 is more than triple last year’s.
If he gets the walks under control, he should be fine.
Right on. This is 1000 percent the right move. I would rather have Pivetta or Crawford be the emergency starter over Kluber. He seems like a good dude, and he’s had a great career but he is washed.
Happens to all of them sooner or later.
Haters will be hatin’ but 1yr/10m for 2x cy young winner worth a shot. Just like last year, they’ll ignore all the positive moves and talk about this one ad nauseam.
Last year they ignored all the positive from Wacha and only wanted to talk about Paxton. This year they are obsessed with Wacha and wont say a word about Paxton. Lol.
A Kluber apologist! Kluber has put the Sox in a multi-run hole in the early innings MULTIPLE times. Like 5 of eight starts had Kluber surrendering three or more runs. Pretty sly, making that error to lower his ERA
Wiggsy? Have you ever posted here before? Go away.
Wow, great counter point. You showed him!
I meant to type “3 runs in the first three innings.” Three runs wouldn’t be so bad if they were 6 IP… but has Kluber seen action in the sixth in 2023?! Kluber has put the Sox in early multi-run holes several times. Hard to win games when you are constantly just scoring 4-5 runs…. TO PULL EVEN WITH THE OPPONENT. Dude is cooked. Cut him loose. Eat to $10 M, Chaim.
No he actually hasn’t. He’s only put them behind by multiple runs early in 2 starts so far this year, April 19th against Minnesota and his last start on Sunday in San Diego.
Wow what a loser telling someone they can’t post because they never posted here before
I just laugh. I finally made an account so I can post!
He’s been the pitcher of record 8 times out of his 9 starts. Good on Corey for wearing those six Ls. I’m happy for Corey! His start against SD broke the streak of surrendering at least one home run EVERY. SINGLE. START. HOW DARE ALEX TAKE CK OUT OF THE ROTATION! Corey is just about to heat up. He only needs 6-8 runs of support in every outing. Totally sustainable.
Wiggsy…6-8 runs of support!!! Are you kidding or did you mean in the first 3-4 innings he needs that kind of support!!!
@olmtiant Yes, I was being sarcastic. Look at my other comments on CK. He’s cooked. Nice guy. I was happy to see his comments/taking responsibility for his body of work.
I”m not hating. I liked the Kluber signing but IMO he’s currently 8th on the SP depth list.
I didnt mean u syco, sorry for the confusion.
@RSmith it’s not a matter of hating. Kluber has been done for some time. He won those Cy Young’s many moons ago.
WideWorld: Its an easy test: Are you going to add multiple comments about Kluber, yet ignore Yoshida signing, Turner signing, Verdugo and Wong acquisitions through Betts trade, Valdez and Abreu acquisitions through the Vazquez trade? Plus many other moves that are paying dividends. — Then youre a hater. I dont recognize your name, youd have to tell us.
Notice theres never anymore talk about Schwarber, JD Martinez, Bogaerts. Bogaerts is having his worst season since 2017 where are the comments? I would hate to be on the hook for that albatross of a contract. Do you think thats a coincidence?
Rsmith……my guess is the comments are mostly about Kluber because the article is about him.
What’s your obsession with kluber he’s been terrible get over it most fans r happy bout this move
retired …. so there wont be any comments about Wacha? What about Bloom? Articles not about them.
You know my point is talking about in general. Dont be ridiculous.
I’m always ridiculous. Lol.
rsmith–yeah you are right Bloom has been awesome since he came to Boston. Only finished last in the AL East 2 of his 3 seasons so far and currently are in 4th place now ahead of a Blue Jays team most feel are badly underachieving. It is a good thing he’s made all those great moves you speak of or who knows where we would be right now.
Easy Chaim Jr. The article is about pitching. How about Wacha, Nate, and Erod. Or did you forget about them
I agree it was absolutely worth a shot. But that doesn’t mean it’s working out
It was worth a shot with Kluber….he failed next man up….1/3 of the season is enough time to evaluate. He’s just not missing any bats and his stuff sucks, my brother as I previously have stated is not even in pro ball and throws low to mid 90s.
Might be time for Kluber to hang em up if the bullpen move doesn’t work out. 89 million dollars in the bag he’s gonna be just fine.
The bullpen does not need pitchers who give up multiple hits and runs in the first inning that they work.
Game 3 of the 2004 series, Tim Wakefield eats innings in a 19-8 blowout. The rest is history.
You need guys to pitch in the games you lose and you don’t want to waste good pitchers.
Nick Pivetta on line one.
@sycho,
Careful, Nick Pivetta is a bit of a sacred cow to some on this site.
True. And we don’t have Ryan Brasier doing mop up work anymore
Ketch… you miss him too already….
The only time you would want to put Kluber in from the bullpen is in a blowout for or against. The guy has no command and no velocity. Thats a bad recipe for a short inning pitcher.
Not sure how you can definitively make that statement since no one has seen Kluber work out of the pen in a major league game since his first 2 appearances of the 2013 season.
I Hate to say it but Kluber is washed out. His stuff is all flat, the fastball is down in velo (which was expected) and the biggest reason is command. He was signed to eat innings whilst cutting down on free passes. He isn’t doing that.
This is the last chance for Kluber to provide any value to Boston this year. If he struggles in his first 2 or 3 relief appearances then Boston will have no choice but to DFA him. Being brutally honest, I’d rather have Ryan Brasier in the bullpen over the 2023 version of Corey Kluber; he has been beyond dreadful all season long.
Their emergency starters will be Pivetta (1), Crawford (2) and possibly Wink (3) as well. Kluber should not see the mound again in the first inning of a game unless a slew of injuries occur. Hopefully Kluber can see an uptick in velocity by working out of the bullpen. 88.6 MPH is batting practice speed these days.
I think they want to keep Winck in the pen if at all possible. Wink, Jansen, Martin, and Schreiber are the bones of that unit.
soon to be Whitlock IMO
Now WE want Brais back!!! Well fyi he’s happy selling beer in Wooster….
In 5 career relief appearances Kluber has an ERA of 4.82 in 9.1 innings. Kluber has given up 10 first inning runs this season. The issue isn’t Kluber not being able to get through the batting order multiple times, the issue is Kluber getting through the first inning without digging too big of a hole. Hopefully Cora picks his spots wisely (either games with a big lead, or games with a big enough deficit) because this experiment probably doesn’t end well
Unless Kluber approaches the bullpen differently. He’s presumably trying to conserve himself when he starts a game.
If he knows it’s an inning or 2 only he might have a little more gas in the tank.
Maybe. Just another example of bloom tailing his old bosses on a player and watching him flop though. I think Friedman and Neander were the 2 brightest guys in that room.
Is Friedman The Dodgers President of Baseball Operations who is honoring that Anti-Catholic group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence ? Great move
What do you think “baseball operations” means, AL34? Also the sisters kick ass. Cry more.
All starting pitchers pace themselves. That’s why all these guys you’re used to watch throwing 92-94mph starting hitting 98mph in the All Star game.
Those 5 relief appearances were the only 3 appearances his rookie season in 2011 and his first 2 appearances in 2013. Not sure how you or anyone can think how he did that far back has any relevance or insight as to what he’d show now out of the pen. We won’t know that until he’s given a chance in that role now.
Watching him repeatedly labor through the first inning is a pretty good indicator how it will probably go
Not really. Preparing for a start and getting loose and coming in out of the pen are 2 entirely different processes.
He should have been DFAD. He has an 88MPH straight fastball that is Lukewarm. He was a bad signing, Wacha would have been a better choice. I still cannot believe Bloom gave him 11 million dollars. He is stealing money for what he gives you. He is done.
one year deal, who cares.
This is a good move. Kluber was added as depth, that’s how he should fit in. Who cares if he was our opening day starter or not…
Is it just me or are the leashes getting shorter for the Sox this year as opposed to last? It seemed like last year management and the front office waited for things to happen, though this year they’re fine-tuning right when an issue occurs.
When the seat starts getting warmer, reaction time quickens. Bloom is on the proverbial hot seat.
Bloom isn’t on any hot seat. He’s done what ownership wanted him to do.
Yeah their panicking, they see the fan base is fed up with their mediocrity.
Well except for the couple of Bloom sycophants on this thread
The Last time I saw Kluber come out of the bullpen in relief he plunked Derek Jeter in the head during a Yankees/Indians game 🙁
Craven – Thanks for image you made my day!!! Jeter – most over-rated Yankee in recent history. Don’t get me started about Scooter being in the HOF. What a joke.
Kd… disagree on the is one .. while I despise the Yankees as a whole this is not another Yankee I didn’t want to see up vs Redsox with game on line… overrated maybe but I believe you also thought Mariano was overrated and Trevor was just as good etc… no way!!! Again poll this site and if you had a one run lead and needed 3 outs who do you want relieving??? ( me personally Brais can’t let go) but seriously Mariano no questions..
oimtiant – If Jeter and Rivera are your heroes I won’t detail why they were grossly over-rated. Enjoy your fandom of the two players.
Both careers deserved HOF recognition, but I strongly disagree with their legacies. I believe their greatness is grossly exaggerated based on the data. Blindfold a judge and read their stats and I think the ranking of greatness would be significantly different. It’s a lot like the argument why Williams was far better than DiMaggio. If their jerseys were reversed Williams might have been a first vote HOFer especially the way the NY marketing group would have played up the WWII and Korean War hero thing.
I’ll take Ripken and Trammel and AROD over Jeter at SS. I’ll take Hoffman, Eckersley and Bruce Suter over Rivera. The era a closer played in has lots to do with the numbers. Eck as a career closer would have been incredible. Suter invented the untouchable knuckle curveball. I lost a lot of money during all-star games when Rice struck out to Suter. He was untouchable. Rivera was outstanding but as a batter I think I would have had a better chance to hit his cutter than Suter’s knuckle curve or Ecks tailing fastball and sweeping curveball.
I wouldn’t poll this site for a baseball opinion. I might poll a segment of this site but to be fair there are a lot of guys lacking baseball expertise.who provide content on this site. That’s why my MUTE list is so long.
@olm… last guy I want to see come up against the Sox with the game on the line is Bernie Williams. Jeter a close 2nd
Yeah Bernie did rake … just ask the “shooter” definitely on the list… and mattsui if Pedro was pitching..( only guy I was slightly nervous of when Pedro faced them)
Kd17… for sure I would take Cal.. trammel probably..( a rod??..well …roids) by no means would I ever say jeter was best ss ever .. but I WOULD say MO… true he blew two chances in WS but he also pitched in 2-2.50 more games than anyone.. can’t tell me he didn’t face tougher times as AL had DH and 8 th hitters with 15-20 hrs on teams… nl was not as stacked top to bottom as AL lineups… as for unanimous?? I’m ok with but I would have been okay with Junior/ big unit/ also to name a couple…
Ummm…Ted Williams WAS a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. 93.4% of the vote. The other 6.6% should have been barred from ever voting on any ballot ever again, IMO.
Goml… absolutely… the list of who could have been unanimously voted in is a mile long if we go back to Ted’s days.. writers were a bigger joke than they are now( how one writer left him off mvp ballot and cost him a mvp) i feel In my lifetime I’ve seen 3 maybe 4 of the best all time arguably in history.. Bench/ Schmidt/ Rivera/Sandburg- Morgan… tough to compare decades but for their time at the time I feel they’re up there at those positions
oimtiant – Roids are a myth created by Selig to divert attention from the fact that he swapped out a juiced ball in 1995 to get fans back in the stands after the strike. AROD’s pure skills dwarf Jeter’s. He had incredible talent. He had superior hand/eye coordination, superior speed, superior glove, superior arm and superior ability to make hard contact with the baseball since that is now important to many. Jeter was a high average inside out hitter. A small step up from Denny Doyle!!! hahaha That should get the Jeter fans riled up.
I will say Jeter had the clutch gene like AROD, PAPI and Bonds. I’ll also say that he made more of himself from a lack of baseball skills than any other player in the history of the game.
My issues with so many of the Yankees is that they got more chances to play in the post season to add accolades and that was because the Yankees spent 20% more money than the second greatest spending team. It’s called stacking the deck or playing with a non level playing field. The fact that Yankee players were on winning teams has more to do with the money spent than the talent of each individual. If you could afford twice as many above league average players than all other teams you can’t count those guys as HOFers. Only the legitimate elite players like Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio count as HOF worthy.
As a Red Sox fan, if Boston could have stocked their team with twice as many guys like Pedoia than any other team then argued that he should get in the HOF because he played in x number world series or post season games and did so well, is that really a fair argument considering the money invested in the team got him into those games not him per se.
The DH argument doesn’t really hold water because Mo and Hoffman pitched the 9th inning. DH isn’t part of the equation since a Pinch Hitter and a DH are comparable. Hoffman may have faced more Pinch Hitters while Mo faced more DHs. It’s a wash.
The treatment of closers prior to Mo was unforgivable by the HOF. To make up for all those snubs by letting a guy on the richest team in baseball who bought their way to so many post seasons it’s ridiculous is like giving a trophy to the rich kid on a team rather than a poor kid on the team. Hoffman played as a poor kid because his teams didn’t have the financial backing that Mo’s did. It’s not a fair comparison if you use post season or even save opportunities because Mo’s owners bought him those extras, he didn’t earn them. The largest payrolls in history gave Mo far more opportunities than he would have otherwise gotten on a different team. Without those opportunities he’s not worthy of consideration as a closer going into the HOF on the first ballet, just like Hoffman, Lee Smith and Eckersley who had a far more impressive career than Mo. Same with Smoltz. Smoltz had the advantage that his Atlanta teams won in the 1990s so both as a starter and a closer he had more post season opportunities than most.
I’ll say it one more time. Both Jeter and Mo deserved HOF status, just not the way it went down. They weren’t as great as suggested by the voting.
Kd17 great post… no doubt Yankees spent more than anyone on planet/ universe etc.. nothing per team and you make great points on relievers.. eck was lights out for his period and it’s not that I hate on Hoffman I’m a big AL follower and really a AA knowledge of NL unless I played strato- back in 80/90”s .. I’m very partial to Al players as a whole.. petey one of my all time favorites… a true DIRT DOG to say the least( trot the original I believe).. I have respect for mentioned Yankees as well as posada/ Munson etc… but make NO mistake my distain for that franchise runs deeper than Grand Canyon!! But again just to be clear… team or no team.. I need three outs in 9th I want MO in there.. he could have me playing shortstop.. in my lifetime he was the best..eck / Koji / Gagne had tremendous seasons but lifetime work it goes to Rivera…
Kd… love the Denny Doyle reference!!! Add Marty Barrett to dirt dog list!!!
Olmtiant – Nobody did their job better than Rivera. I have always maintained of the Core Four he was the most valuable.
BYW Posada didn’t deserve our respect, but Bernie was a class act.
Oimtiant – My preference and greater respect for Hoffman comes from being a hitter when I wasn’t pitching. I hated guys with a great change-up where you couldn’t tell it was 10 mph slower until it was too late. Hoffman was that guy. Sitting behind home watching him pitch, I was shocked when somebody made contact. They had to have been guessing fastball or change-up and guessed right to make contact. For me, Mo was more of a guy who sawed off the bat in your hands if you were lefty and his cutter to righties was an excellent pitch but to me it wasn’t as difficult to pick up as the Hoffman change-up.
It’s obviously splitting hairs to argue either was better but I am convinced if they swap their careers Hoffman’s numbers significantly rise and Mo’s significantly drop off so his success relates more to the team than the skill. Mo was a great closer but simply not the greatest to me. I feel as if he had a huge amount of help where others didn’t.
Yeah, 3,500 hits sucks. Everyone does that!
Utah – cumulative stats are great and very misleading. He probably played longer than you’ve been alive. He was a weak defender with a below average arm. Seems like you extapolated my comment to fit your agenda. Next time read carefully and comment appropriately.
Never said 3500 hits sucks. You did.
KD, the thng about Jeter was how often he came through in the clutch, including postseason. But there are definitely better shortstops as you mentioned. The NY bias runs amok through MLB, polluting everyone’s opinions of ballplayers. As for Mo, my respect for him is his longevitiy, but he did blow two postseasons, 2001 and 2004. No way did he deserve unanimous first ballot, that’s just a pathetic display of the NY bias. Both of these guys benefitted from being surrounded by crooks and cheaters. Mo taking the reins from Wetteland and Jeter playing next to Arod, earlier in front of Chad Curtis. The list goes on and on, sadly. The Yankees have no morals whatsoever about who they employ, but look no further than their owner to know why that is true. It’s rather amazing that the bias runs so deep and strong in the media and fandom when it’s clear there is absolutely nothing to admire about the organization other than their “success” in winning at all costs. No surprise they’re cheating this year, again.
whyhayzee – I agree to the clutch aspect to Jeter. He’s wasn’t as clutch as Papi but he was NY’s clutch player. It’s his pedestrian skills that put him in the category of a HOFer who earned it by playing so many years. None of his individual years stood out like so many other better SSs in the HOF. He was similar to RIpken in longevity but not skills.
I always differentiate between Williams and Yaz because Williams was flat out GREAT and Yaz was a guy who played above average long enough to get into the HOF like Jeter. He was better than Jeter but he didn’t have the peaks that Williams did.
You hit the nail on the head about the media bias. Watch MLB channel and see how many analysts are Yankee fans and exaggerate their accomplishments at every opportunity. The MLB channel is nearly YES-2!
Ask yourself if Mo and Jeter were on the Royals whether they would have been voted in as early as they were even if their numbers were equivalent. Then, ask yourself how big George Brett would have been had he played for the Yankees. If you can honestly say it wouldn’t have made a difference, I think you are dealing with an alternate reality.
Until the HOF changes it’s bias toward the Yankees they will continue to have a two-tier advantage over other teams.
ONE – They spend more money for TOP players
TWO – Top players select NY to have the inside track on the HOF.
Rizzo is a perfect example. I believe his move from the Cubs to the Yankees will ultimately improve his chances for the HOF. Judge is probably already in with what he’s done in NY despite his lean years. It shouldn’t work that way but it does.
Oh well, it’s been like this for 100 years so it’s nothing new. The excessive spending from 1919 to 1962 landed them half the WS rings and HOFers who that didn’t deserve it. Jeter and Mo’s treatment is no different. They were elevated in the stature by simply being a Yankee, they didn’t earn the elite status., their owner bought it.
Kluber will be in the pen until Sale punches something out of frustration and breaks his pitching hand.
Solar – What a pathetic comment. Why go there? It’s not funny. Are you a Yankee troll? Otherwise, why would that happen? Does it seem to you that Sale is frustrated these days? Granted he plays for the worst MGR in baseball but he’s handling it well so far. His stuff is always going to be there if he’s healthy so your comment was an unsolicited cheap shot. What’s wrong with you?
Kluber in long relief during blow outs gives the team a useful way to deploy his lack of skills. Whitlock still needs to move to the stress relief spot to help the starters deal with the inning when they find themselves in trouble and need to not give up any runs.. He’s proven to be great at it and that frees up Winch to help with the innings before Martin and Jansen.
Crawford or Pivetta are both qualified to be the #5 SP. There is no need for Whitlock to be in the rotation, it’s plenty deep AND there are guys in the minors gearing up for that assignment in the future. Stress Inning guy is critical so put Whitlock where he helps the team the most = both this year and in the future.
He had it coming
They should move him to a retirement home
In 164 innings last yr Kluber walked 21 batters.This yr in 41 innings he already has 18 walks and on pace for 72.Hopefully he will figure it out as it is still very early.
Let’s look at the 2018 team that steamrolled everyone and cruised to the championship.
Top 2 starters by innings were Porcello and Price, next was Sale, then E-Rod. the next two guys by innings were Brian Johnson and Hector Valazquez, followed by Pomeranz who was a bust as a starter. Bullpen was Kimbrel, Kelly, Barnes and Hembree, each with 60-65 innings. Workman and Brasier combined for about the same number of innings as Pomeranz. Eovaldi came in later and started 11 games. By the end of the season, Sale didn’t have much wind left in his sail and Kimbrel was likewise no longer at his best. And yet, they were third in league ERA and won 108 games, thanks to a great offenze. BUT …
their catchers couldn’t hit .200, Nunez, JBJ and even Devers were below average. It was all Betts, Bogaerts, JD and Benetendi with honorable mention to Brock Holt and a late cameo by Steve Pearce.
Their offense is 3rd in the league, relying right now on overachievers. I don’t see them having anyone beyond Devers and maybe Yoshida who can carry the offense. It’s going to be piecemeal unless Casas wakes up and Duran maintains his performance. But that’s all lefties, Turner is the only righty who’s above average.
Pitching is 12th in ERA but trending in the right direction. This group of pitchers could easily perform as well as the 2018 group, maybe better. That’s where this team is going to have to hang their hat. As far as Kluber and Pivetta going to the bullpen, they are still going to get innings. And they will be useful. But the rotation of Sale, Paxton, Bello, Houck and Whitlock should be run through a few rotations to see if they work well. I think this staff could work out to be a good one.
It’s the hitting that worries me. I want another solid right hand bat to emerge. Story, Arroyo, Dalbec, Duvall, etc.? If two of those guys can emerge, this could get interesting.
Hall of Famer but he’s likely done at this point in the game. Will never put up solid numbers as father time has caught up with him
My wife just said, and I quote, “it’s about f[]%ing time”.
Really should have re-signed Eovaldi instead of bringing in Kluber. Even bringing back Rich Hill would have been a wiser move.
He got his 10yr of service time and 10mil for the season, good dude or not, at this point of the season, he’s best suited for the multiple inning role. Pretty sure he shoud be cool with that?
The five years since being a reliever is not true. He came out of the bullpen in the wild card and gave up the walk off homer to Oscar gonzalez
Shame to see him fall off the way he has. He was must see TV for quite a long time and when he was elite it was pretty incredible. Hope he figures it out but it’s way more likely he’s just toast. Kind of reminds me a little of Brian Wilson’s descent into mediocrity, a guy you love to root for just absolutely losing his stuff completely.
Just without the huge beard
From Corey Kluber to Sorry Kluber.
The bullpen is one step closer to being DFA., the final clue it is imminent is when he is assigned the seat next to the toilet on the team flights.
DFA the dude and call up a rookie with some pitching potential. The only potential Kluber has left is to become a bagger at Shaw’s
When they signed Kluber for a 1 year deal at 10 mils I thought it wasn’t a bad deal. Figured he’d be a quality #5 guy who would give you innings, and have some extra rest every month when the rotation could use 4 dudes plus a day off.
Then they named him the game 1 starter, I groaned. Believed then that this would not end well.
Kluber is a quality human being, had a great career. If he can find a role in the pen mopping up in blow out games, great. If not, shake his hand, pat his back, and congratulate him on his retirement while calling up the next young gun for a try out.
As for the 10 mils, average cost of a number 5. Wouldn’t even give it a second thought if it was for the front office taking on JBJ’s money and then going over the threshold by 8 cents.
BTW, who is pitching Sunday? As of yesterday morning it was Kluber followed by 5 other dudes. Sure was a very short week. I love 1 day weeks! Do we still get paid for all 5 days?
DBH – Starting on Sunday the rotation is
HOUCK, DAY OFF, BELLO, PAXTON, SALE and WHITLOCK as far as I know. Not sure if anyone else will be inserted to make it a 6 man rotation.
For the time being means until Paxton is hurt again.