Corey Kluber sees Rays as good chance to be a champ
ST. PETERSBURG — Manager Kevin Cash and other Rays officials have a pretty good idea what a healthy Corey Kluber can do for them in the clubhouse and, more importantly, on the mound.
And Kluber made clear Wednesday that he signed with the Rays because of what they can do for him — add a World Series championship to his award-filled resume.
“I’m at the stage of my career where I’m trying to still win a World Series,” Kluber said on a Zoom call from Tropicana Field. “And the success that this team has had the last few years, I think it makes it pretty obvious that they’re in a position to do that.”
Kluber is 35 and has missed extended time each of the past three seasons due to injury (broken arm in 2019, shoulder the last two). But both he and the Rays said he finished 2021 with the Yankees healthy and is capable and ready for a full season, albeit likely with some workload monitoring.
His one-year contract incentivizes staying healthy, guaranteeing him $8 million, with the chance to earn up to $5 million more based on starts — $500,000 for his 10th and 15th, $1 million for his 20th, $1.5 million for his 25th and 30th. (Plus, he gets the benefit of living in his Tampa-area home during the season.)
Cash was the bullpen coach with the Indians in 2013-14 as Kluber (a product of Stetson University in DeLand) ascended to elite status over a five-year period, winning Cy Young Awards in 2014 and 2017, finishing third twice and ninth once.
Among many, Cash cited two reasons for the Rays to be excited about adding Kluber:
One, how dominant he can be on the mound.
“When he’s right, he’s really, really special,” Cash said. “He can command the baseball as well as any guy that I’ve been around on a coaching side.”
Two, how hard he works to be good, comparing him to the gold standard of the late Roy Halladay.
“Work ethic-wise, it’s off the charts,” Cash said. “Corey has prioritized his career and knowing that to get the most out of his career, it’s the work that you do in between starts. And he’s second to none.
“Certainly doesn’t need to go preach about it to anybody, but knowing that he’s in the weight room or he’s out on the field running or doing his arm maintenance and arm-care program, just our young pitchers watching that will be a benefit.”
That is an ancillary bonus of adding a pedigreed veteran, someone for young pitchers Shane McClanahan, Luis Patino, Drew Rasmussen, Shane Baz, Josh Fleming and others to learn from, similar to Charlie Morton and Rich Hill.
Baseball operations president Erik Neander said that was part of the reason the Rays went after Kluber again. They pursued him heavily last season before he signed with the Yankees for $11 million and went 5-3, 3.38 in 16 starts, throwing a no-hitter, before missing three months.
“The experiences that he’s had in this game, the accomplishments that he’s had in this game — we often speak about how beneficial it is to have someone with those types of credentials, that type of resume around younger, impressionable players and talent,” Neander said. “We’ve been fortunate to have a few here, but there aren’t many that are a better example for young players than Corey Kluber.”
Kluber said he prefers to lead by example and isn’t one to hover or tell players how to do something. Cash said the Rays are fine with that.
“We’re not looking for Corey to come in and be that ‘veteran presence’ and be that ‘Uber leader,’” Cash said. “We want Corey to come in and just be Corey and be the good pitcher that he has certainly shown over many years and that he shown as (recently) as last year when he’s healthy.”
The Rays expect that to the be case in 2022, Neander lauding the work head athletic trainer Joe Benge and the medical staff did in assessing Kluber, saying they feel good about his health.
“(We) anticipate him taking the ball on a regular basis,” Neander said. “Maybe we’re a little limited in the early going to manage the workload and all that, but somebody that for us at the type of commitment we’re talking about and the quality that we think he’s likely to bring every fifth game, this is a really exciting addition for us.
“The feel to pitch, the moxie, the guile, the the cutter, the slider, the breaking balls, the feel for all of that is still very, very good.”
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