Free Right Right Hand Corey Kluber held a showcase today for interested teams, and Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets what a relief Anthony Swarzak and Steve Cishek both also threw for teams. (All three are clients of Jet Sports Management, so it is natural that they will host the training session together.) Up to 25 teams were present. tweets ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Passan notes that Kluber’s speed reached 90 km / h, although he was in the rehabilitation process due to last year’s injuries, it was not expected that he would still have only the highest speed. Eric Cressey, whose power and conditioning facility hosted the showcase, told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers yesterday that Kluber was at 87-89 km / h in the previous session. Cressey suggested that Kluber is already in front of many pitchers who have not yet increased their throws to date. Kluber averaged 92 km / h on his heater during his excellent 2018 campaign.
The full list of teams attending is not known, although it was an open look at a two-time Cy Young winner and some relief with a very late MLB experience, it would be more remarkable to learn which pair of teams was not attend than to know which clubs were. It is at least worth noting that each of the Mets, Yankees, Subjects, Red Sox, Rays, twin, Cubs, Rangers, Marlins, Animals, Pirates, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks and Indians all allegedly attended the showcase. Clearly, this is not an all-encompassing list.
In general, if Kluber is indeed at a stage in his rehabilitation that inspires confidence, one might think that the market will be robust for him. The extent to which clubs are willing to bet on the two-time Cy Young winner on a guaranteed contract will vary, but he should easily order a big league deal with plenty of incentives above and beyond what basis the highest bidder will commit.
Kluber may be something of a lottery at this point, but few ventures come with such a pronounced headline. From 2014 to 18, the right-hander was one of the leading throwers in the game and he works with a 2.85 era, while scoring 28.5 percent of the hits he faced at a running percentage of 5.2 percent erased. Only three of the 179 qualified starting teams in that period – Chris Sale, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer – bo Kluber se 23.3 K-BB%.
Since that time, however, he has been limited to 36 2/3 innings by a broken forearm (which was sustained when he was hit by a line drive), an oblique tension and a teres major tension. Trading from Cleveland to Texas last winter, Kluber hit just one innings for the Rangers in 2020.
While most of Kluber is understandably focused, the presence of Swarzak and Cishek is certainly noticeable as well. Both right-wingers are looking for rebounds of their own. Swarzak signed with the Phillies last winter, but was released at the end of the summer camp and did not sign with another club. A $ 14 million two-year deal he signed with the Mets before the 2018 season was deplorable, as the shoulder problems torpedoed both seasons. In 2017, however, Swarzak threw 77 1/3 frames with a 2.33 ERA with 91 strokes at just 22 runs.
Cishek has meanwhile rocked four consecutive seasons with an ERA of less than 3.00 from 2016-19, leading to a $ 6 million deal with the White Sox last winter. However, he did not hold on to the South Side of Chicago as he finished in just 20 overs for an ERA of 5.40. Cishek’s control has pulled in the wrong direction over the past few seasons, but he missed bats at his normal level and did not see a speed drop in 2020.