PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — There are times, highly placed sources have confirmed under promise of anonymity, when Corey Kluber occasionally will laugh, joke around and even subtly mastermind some clubhouse pranks.
So far this spring, the soon-to-be 36-year-old has been his usual quiet, serious, professional self, living up to his “Klubot” nickname as he gets ready for his 12th big league season and gets acclimated to his new team.
But he already has had an impact on the Rays.
“It’s just when he walks in the room, you know,” lefty Ryan Yarbrough said. “Just his presence.”
Much like Charlie Morton in 2019 and ‘20 and Rich Hill until he was traded in July, Kluber was brought in primarily to pitch but secondarily to serve as a “been-there, done-that” role model and on-call mentor for the young and less-experienced pitchers on the Rays staff.
“It’s kind of like how it was with Charlie, when you have a guy like that (who) has been so successful for so long,” Yarbrough said. “When you have as many young guys as we have here, it’s just a matter of guys kind of seeing how he goes about his business and how to be a really good big leaguer. A really successful big leaguer.”
Kluber said he is happy to help if asked — “I’m not going to be the guy to go tell somebody they have to do this or that” — and certainly has the resume for the assignment.
The highlight is a remarkable 2014-18 run in Cleveland when he won two Cy Young awards, finished third twice and ninth the other time, posting an 83-45 record and 2.85 ERA with 17 complete games, including seven shutouts.
But injuries have been an issue since, as Kluber has worked only 24 games and 116 2/3 innings over the previous three seasons, moving from Cleveland to the Rangers to the Yankees, where he finished last season feeling good.
Understandably, reestablishing himself as a healthy and successful starter is Kluber’s top priority and part of the reason he chose to join the Rays, signing a one-year deal for $8 million guaranteed, with up to another $5 million in games-started incentives. A secondary bonus is that he and his family now live in the Tampa area.
“I think there’s a lot of appealing things about being here,” Kluber said. “Obviously, they’ve had a really good team the last few years, and I don’t think there’s really any reason why that shouldn’t be the case again. So to be a part of that, to try to contribute to that, will be fun.
“I think that they have a good, I guess, footprint in place here for getting the most out of guys — and they’ve shown it time and time again. So I’m intrigued on seeing what they have for me and trying to go out there and apply what I feel I do well and what they feel I can improve on.”
Before being hired to manage the Rays in December 2014, Kevin Cash spent the previous two seasons as Cleveland’s bullpen coach, working with and getting to know Kluber. Cash has a keen sense of of how much Kluber can add to the current team in his own way and high praise for how he can do it.
“Corey is a quiet guy … and we want him to be comfortable being himself,” Cash said. “We’re not going to ask anything more than what he wants to do.
“But the way Corey goes about it, it’s similar to the way like Roy Halladay (the former Blue Jays and Phillies ace who died in 2017) went about it — the work ethic, the in-between start (work), the preparation. It’s not, get in everybody’s face and talk about everything. It’s just kind of sit back and watch and lead by example. And he does that as well as any pitcher I’ve been around.”
