Corey Kluber headed to Texas; Madison Bumgarner signs with Arizona

Corey Kluber

Two big-name pitchers changed teams Sunday. The Cleveland Indians traded two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber to the Texas Rangers, while longtime San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner agreed to a five-year, $85 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Kluber was limited to seven starts in 2019 because of a broken right forearm and a strained oblique muscle, but despite those injuries, the return in this deal seems underwhelming for the Indians.

Texas gave up outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. and relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase. DeShields, 27, has played 106 or more games in four of the past five seasons with the Rangers, and he's a speedy player and solid defender in center field. However, he's never become much with the bat. Last season, he batted .249/.325/.347 with four home runs and 32 RBIs in 118 games. Not impactful.

Clase, 21, appeared in 21 games with Texas last season and went 2-3 with a 2.31 ERA in 23.1 innings pitched. I had never heard of him until Sunday.

I like the deal for the Rangers, even though Kluber is 33 and coming off an injury-plagued year. He joins a Texas rotation that includes Lance Lynn, Mike Minor, Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles. The latter two were signed as free agents this offseason.

Credit the Texas front office for moving to fill the holes in its pitching staff. I wish a certain team that plays on the South Side of Chicago would do something similar. The Rangers have five big league-caliber starters now, and that gives them a chance.

Meanwhile, Bumgarner is staying in the NL West and joining the Diamondbacks. The 30-year-old is a three-time World Series champion with a career record of 119-92 with a 3.13 ERA. He's known for his postseason excellence; he's 8-3 with a 2.11 ERA in the playoffs, including 4-0 with a 0.25 ERA in five career World Series games.

He joins Robbie Ray, Luke Weaver, Mike Leake and Zac Gallen in the projected Arizona rotation, although Ray is entering the last season of his contract and could be traded before the offseason is over.

The price for Bumgarner seems reasonable in this market, five years and $85 million. The top two remaining free agent pitchers are Hyun-Jin Ryu and Dallas Keuchel, neither of whom should command as good a contract as Bumgarner got.

Maybe the White Sox should sign one of these guys, no? It would be better than starting the season with Dylan Covey and Carson Fulmer in the rotation, you know?