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The New York Yankees and free agent righthanded pitcher Corey Kluber have reportedly agreed to a one year, $11 million, per a number of writers on Twitter.
Kluber, of course, was the big acquisition by the Texas Rangers in the 2019-20 offseason, coming to Texas from the Cleveland Indians for Delino DeShields and Emmanuel Clase. The Rangers were hoping the former Cy Young winner, who they held a team option on for 2021, could bounce back from an injury-plagued 2019 and get back close to his old form.
Instead, COVID-19 hit, the 2020 season was delayed, and upon its resumption Kluber threw one inning for the Rangers before his season was ended due to a torn shoulder muscle. The Rangers declined his 2021 option, and while there was initial indications of mutual interest in Kluber coming back, that seemed to wane in recent weeks, and his throwing session a few days ago was impressive enough that numerous teams were willing to pay him a significant amount of money to sign.
The Kluber trade ended up being a lose-lose deal, as the Rangers got essentially nothing from Kluber, Delino DeShields was bad for the Indians and has since been non-tendered, and Emmanuel Clase missed all of 2020 due to an 80 game PED suspension which, due to the truncated 2020 campaign, still has 30 games to go in 2021.