A quick update to the Corey Kluber situation. Just one day after teams – including the Cubs – watched him at a workout to demonstrate health, his market is apparently picking up sufficient steam that he’s going to sign quickly.
Kluber reportedly looked good, and he might sign as soon as this weekend:
The bidding on Corey Kluber is moving quickly and will likely reach a conclusion by this weekend. The two-time Cy Young Award winner threw for scouts Wednesday, in a session that went well.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) January 14, 2021
You probably don’t need me to say it out loud at this point, but if the bidding on Kluber gets hot, heavy, and/or urgent, I’d be shocked if the Cubs wind up on top. I do see the Cubs adding multiple starting pitchers from here, but, given the expectations for 2021 and the very deep starting free agent pool (in the middle-to-lower tier), I do not see the Cubs spending considerably on any one guy.
I could be wrong, given how little we ACTUALLY know about the Cubs’ budget situation, but if Kluber is looking at a $10+ million roll of the dice from some team, I tend to think the Cubs are going to split that money up among multiple other options. We’ll see.
Interesting, by the way, that Kluber’s market is moving so quickly while every other bounce-back pitcher is still kinda waiting around for traction. A nod to Kluber’s superior perceived upside, even heading into his age 35 season coming off two mostly lost years? I guess so. A little surprising, though, that he is apparently generating so much more heat than a Garrett Richards or James Paxton or even Jose Quintana.