Rangers acquire Kluber; Bumgarner joins D’backs
The Rangers acquired two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber from the Indians, and four-time All-Star and 2014 World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner signed a free-agent deal with the Diamondbacks on Sunday.
In exchange for the 33-year-old Kluber, the Indians received outfielder Delino DeShields and pitching prospect Emmanuel Clase, a hard-throwing 21-year-old with huge potential.
The stoic and steady Kluber has been one of baseball’s most dominant pitchers since 2014, when he went 18-9 and won his first Cy Young. He got his second in 2017, going 18-4 and leading the AL with a 2.25 ERA.
But his future with the money-conscious Indians grew more uncertain last season when the club managed to stay in the playoff chase until late September despite not having him after May 1.
Kluber broke his right forearm when he was struck by a line drive and never made it back. He came close to returning to the Indians rotation but suffered an oblique injury during a minor league rehab appearance that ended his comeback.
A three-time All-Star, Kluber went 98-58 with a 3.16 ERA over his nine seasons with the Indians.
As for Bumgarner, he agreed to a five-year deal worth reportedly $85 million.
Bumgarner, 30, went 9-9 with a 3.90 ERA for the Giants last season, following two somewhat forgettable injuryshortened seasons. He went 119-92 with a 3.13 ERA over 11 seasons with the club.
College football: North Carolina and Hall of Fame coach Mack Brown agreed to a one-year extension through the 2024 season. Brown led the Tar Heels to a 6-6 mark (4-4 in the ACC Coastal) and bowl berth in the first season of his second stint with UNC.
Golf: Rory Sabbatini and Kevin Tway birdied the final two holes in best-ball play to win the QBE Shootout in Naples, Fla. Sabbatini-Tway shot a final-round 12-under 60 to finish at 31-under 185 in the three-day event, two clear of Jason Kokrak and J.T. Poston (62).
Soccer: Karim Benzema scored with the final kick, salvaging a 1-1 draw for visiting Real Madrid against Valencia. Real wasted a chance to take the outright La Liga lead. The club is level on points with leader and two-time defending champ Barcelona but trails by two in goal difference. The clubs play Wednesday in Barcelona . ... Chinese TV pulled coverage of Arsenal’s 3-0 loss to two-time defending Premier League champ Manchester City after Mesut Ozil, a forward for the London club, used social media Friday to criticize Beijing’s brutal mass crackdown on ethnic Muslims in the country. Tottenham’s win over Wolverhampton was scheduled to be shown instead. China is the league’s most lucrative overseas broadcast market, with the rights sold for $700 million in a three-year deal that runs through 2022.