He's been missed at summer camp, which could carry into the start of the regular season.
It’s a brutal outcome for both the 34-year-old Kluber and for a Rangers team that Kluber is earning at a $17.5M annual rate this year and can be retained for a $18M salary in 2020 (or bought out for $1M). Means came out of nowhere to be Baltimore's All-Star rep in his rookie season and finished second in the Rookie of the Year vote after going 12-11 with a 3.60 ERA in 155 innings. These are the players set to regress in the shortened 2020 MLB season. © David Dermer / USA Today Sports Images Maybin got a part-time opportunity with the Yankees last year and showed he wasn't done yet, hitting .285-11-32 with an .858 OPS in 269 plate appearances.
Gurriel had easily his best season since coming over from Cuba, hitting .298-31-104 for Houston. © Matt Kartozian / USA Today Sports Images He's been a reliable batting average hitter during his MLB career, but Gurriel has shown limited power. He certainly showed flashes of that in 2019.The Rangers got better today, even though there are some questions in the rotation: Obviously, Mike Minor and Lance Lynn had sensational seasons for a surprising Rangers squad, and Kluber didn't really pitch in 2019 because of forearm and abdominal injuries. They walked up to an armed robber preparing for a bank heist, gave him their ATM card and wrote their PIN on a Post-It note.Sure, maybe Clase turns into an all-world pitcher because of Cleveland's ability to develop pitching.
Much of Bell's breakout 2019 season is boosted by his early hot streak, when he hit .302-27-84 in the first half. © Matt Kartozian / USA Today Sports Images If Kluber is bad, it's essentially a one-year deal who you traded a fourth outfielder and a relief guy for.There are other teams in baseball that could have certainly matched this price for Kluber, which is something curious.
That is not quite the reality of the situation. Maybe the Rangers won't compete in the AL West this year, but they'll at least make the division race interesting. This is a bad return.The only reason Cleveland doesn't get an F here is because Kluber is coming off a freak injury and has some proving to do in 2020, and Clase does have some upside, likely as a bullpen arm.Good job, Cleveland!
Following the break, Bell hit just .233-10-32, and he struggled all year against southpaws. The bigger concerns are a long injury history and Tampa Bay's depth, which could limit Meadows' playing time if he doesn't continue to hit well early. Perhaps Darvish fixed something in his mechanics, but the adjustment seems unlikely to continue given his history of control issues and injuries. © Sam Greene / USA Today Sports Images
It wasn't so much Santana's 34 home runs that were a surprise but rather his .281 batting average.
He can rely on his defense for only so long before the free passes come back to bite him. A slam dunk.
A power pitcher for most of his career, Samardzija made a successful transition with below-average stuff last year after missing much of 2018 due to injury.
Hudson showed off his great sinker with the Cards last season, going 16-7 with a 3.35 ERA in 174.2 innings. © Jim Rassol / USA Today Sports Images Show full articles without "Continue Reading" button for {0} hours. © John David Mercer / USA Today Sports Images Cleveland Indians fans were hoping for a big return in the Corey Kluber trade. Up to that point, Vazquez had hit double-digit home runs only one other time as a pro, launching 18 home runs at Low-A ball back in 2011. But, hey, at least you saved some money!If you're the Texas Rangers, getting Corey Kluber for a center fielder who can't hit and a young, wild-card pitcher is a home run. Santana looked like a promising young hitter in 2014 with Minnesota but struggled to stick in the majors until last season. A repeat of last year seems difficult to expect.
Counsell exercised a quick hook on Davies for much of the year, as he didn't pitch beyond five innings in his final 11 starts, and his poor 5.7 strikeouts per nine innings didn't support the final result.
Eflin had a career-best 4.13 ERA in 163.1 innings last year, yet the indicators weren't nearly as good as what he showed the previous year.
© Tommy Gilligan / USA Today Sports Images
He led the AL in strikeouts last season, and there's no reason to think Soler will suddenly be durable.
Corey Kluber has a Grade 2 tear of teres major muscle in shoulder.
I think this tweet about encapsulates the situation:Like I always say, if you have a two-time Cy Young award winner that can help you be competitive in a weak league and division, you just gotta trade him. © Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today Sports Images © Kim Klement / USA Today Sports Images The elite A's defense still allowed him to post an ERA below 4.00, but Milwaukee's defense doesn't look nearly as efficient on paper.
He will be shut down for 4 weeks before being re-evaluated.
He will see more playing time with Miami this year, but the transition from Camden Yards to Marlins Park couldn't be much more extreme for a hitter.
That sentence alone is enough to make Cleveland Indians fans wonder what 2020 will be like.. Juiced ball or not, it's hard to see Vazquez's power repeating.
A strong increase in strikeout rate leads to optimism that the veteran can continue his transition, but he's never been an innings eater and struggled with his control as recently as 2018. But it is what it is — the Rangers ante'd up and got it done, and that's what matters.https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/8/7/corey-kluber-053117-getty-ftr_1jakx239un2ev12osaxsanbhbo.jpg?t=1688247180&w=500&quality=80 Alonso broke Mark McGwire's rookie home run record, launching 53 long balls last season. The excellent strikeout increase shows legitimate improvement, but last year will be tough to match, especially for a pitcher whose ERA metrics suggested a mid-3's ERA result. Santana was apparently happy to be back in Cleveland, posting a career year and winning a Silver Slugger.