Arlington, Texas — The Texas Rangers today announced that the club has acquired right-handed pitcher Corey Kluber, along with cash considerations, in exchange for outfielder Delino DeShields and right-handed pitcher Emmanuel Clase.
The 33-year-old Kluber was selected as the American League Cy Young Award winner in both 2014 and 2017, and he also earned A.L. All-Star honors in three consecutive seasons from 2016-18. He was limited to 7 games/starts in 2019, going 2-3 with a 5.80 ERA, as he missed the season’s final five months on the injured list (May 2-end of season) after sustaining a broken right forearm in a start on May 1 at Miami. While on an injury rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Columbus, he suffered a left oblique strain in a start on August 18 at Charlotte, which would sideline him for the remainder of the regular season. He made his fifth career Opening Day start this past season.
Kluber leads all Major League pitchers with four seasons of 18-or-more wins since the start of 2014, as the only other pitcher with more than two 18-plus win seasons in that span is Max Scherzer (3). According to Fangraphs, his 30.9 WAR figure over the past six seasons is the 5th-highest in MLB. Despite his limited 2019 campaign, Kluber still ranks among MLB leaders since the start of 2014 in ERA (4th, 2.94), strikeouts (4th, 1266), WHIP (4th, 1.04), opponent OPS (5th, .626), opponent batting average (7th, .223), wins (7th, 85), quality starts (9th, 116), and innings (10th, 1127,0).
In his last full season in 2018, Kluber posted a career-high 20 wins, becoming the first Cleveland pitcher with 20-or-more wins, 200-or-more strikeouts, and at least 200.0 innings since Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry in 1974. He posted at least 200.0 innings in five consecutive years from 2014-18, a span in which he averaged 17 wins, 32 starts, 218.0 innings, and 246 strikeouts.
Kluber is one of 21 pitchers to ever win multiple Cy Young Awards, and he would become just the second Texas pitcher ever to win more than once, joining the aforementioned Gaylord Perry, whose second tour with the Rangers (1980) came after his second Cy Young win (1972 and 1978).
Kluber owns a career 98-58 record with a 3.16 ERA, 1.086 WHIP, and 9.8 strikeouts per 9 innings over a 9-year MLB career spent entirely with Cleveland. He has made 9 career postseason starts, including a 2-0 mark with a 2.81 ERA over 3 outings in the 2016 World Series, when he earned 2 of the Tribe’s 3 wins in the team’s 7-game series loss to the Cubs.
DeShields has batted .246 with 106 stolen bases over 539 games during his Major League career with the Rangers from 2015-19. He has been in the Texas organization since he was selected from the Houston Astros in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft.
Clase went 2-3 with a 2.31 ERA and one save over 21 games/1 start for Texas in 2019, his first MLB action after he opened the year with High-A Down East. Clase was acquired from San Diego in 2018 as the player to be named later in an earlier trade involving catcher Brett Nicholas.
Following today’s trade, the Rangers now have 39 players on the club’s Major League roster.
From Rangers PR staff reports