Cleveland Indians: Viral video shows why Corey Kluber trade gets worse
The Cleveland Indians trade of Corey Kluber continues to get worse.
The Cleveland Indians trade of Corey Kluber continues to get worse, after some cool video of Kluber pitching to the “catcher cam” was posted on the Rangers’ social media channels.
The Indians wanted nothing to do with their two-time Cy Young Award winner, as he was due to make $17.5 million this season. The Tribe dealt him before the pandemic for reliever Emmanuel Clase and outfielder Delino DeShields.
DeShields contracted COVID-19, but that equates to nothing to this trade because he wasn’t the major piece of the deal. The veteran will likely find a way to resume his career in the shortened 60-game season once he’s healthy enough to do so. He’s a fine player and will be again upon his return.
🚨 Trevino Cam ft. @CKluber 🚨 pic.twitter.com/l7CNETAZ3d
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) July 16, 2020
The incident that sent this stock plummeting was Close getting popped for PED use, which means he’s out for the year. He was to serve an 80-game suspension, but because of the shortened campaign, rules were changed and missing the season was deemed long enough.
How much had his PED use impacted his performance, as it’s been reported the right-hander can touch triple digits? We’ll find out next season, I suppose.
To make matter’s worse, we get to see this video of Kluber making Rangers’ hitters look foolish, during Texas’ summer camp. No, he’s not tantalizing anyone with a 99 mile-per-hour fastballs, rather, he’s performing as crafty veterans do, freezing hitters with backdoor sliders and getting them to lunge at splitters.
No one saw a worldwide pandemic coming, but the idea of having Kluber for 12 starts sure sounds good in shortened 60-game season. He had some injuries before the Tribe finally moved on, but it’s a good bet he’d be able to make it through a dozen starts without going on the IL.
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If pressed to do this trade again, though, I think the Indians still would’ve moved their former ace. The Indians are constantly in a state of financial distress, and the economic realities of the pandemic probably make the payroll tighter in the long run.