By his own admission, Corey Kluber isn't the same pitcher he was during a five-year stretch with the Cleveland Indians when he was one of the top starting pitchers in the game.
From 2014 through 2018, Kluber, whose one-year deal with the Red Sox became official Thursday, won two Cy Young Awards and finished third in the voting on two other occasions.
But injuries forced him to miss most of 2019 and 2020, and also led to some changes in approach.
"Obviously, the velocity isn't what it was six, seven years ago,'' said Kluber in a Zoom call with reporters. "But to counteract that, I think that maybe I'm a smarter pitcher than I was then. Without having the ability to rely on 'stuff' as much, there's other tools that you can use beside that. I think I've learned better how to game-plan, how to make in-game adjustments, mid-at-bat adjustments.
"I think some of that is coming from guys I played with, some of it is experience I've had myself on the mound. There's some things that, as you age, most people diminish in certain areas, but I think you can gain in others, as well.''
Even off the mound, Kluber has made some adjustments.
"Everybody has to change some things in their routine, over the course of their career,'' he said. "The longer it goes, probably the more you have to change. I think I probably had to adjust some things last year, routine-wise, in between starts and I think we figured out a pretty good formula that I feel confident about moving forward.
"I guess the simplest way to sum it up is, when I was younger, it was work, work, work all the time. The four days in between starts were constantly (spent) in the weight room, running, all that kind of stuff. And I still do all of that. But I think the focus of that, maybe, has shifted towards prioritizing recovery and not continually beating myself into the ground because as you get older, it does become tougher to recover.
"So I've been trying to put more of an emphasis on the recovery aspect because I think my belief is, if I can stay healthy and be out on the mound, then I think I have the ability to help the team win. But if I'm injured, then obviously, that's no good.''
Kluber, according to an industry source, will be paid $10 million in 2023 with the ability to earn an additional $2 million in performance bonuses. .The Red Sox own a club option for $11 million in 2024, with escalators that could increase that base salary to $13 million. He could add another $2 million in performance bonuses, too.
There is no buyout on the option.
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Friday is the day teams exchange figures with their players who are arbitration-eligible.
The Red Sox settled with lefty reliever Josh Taylor, and could settle with others before Friday's afternoon deadline.
The Sox have five others eligible, with the estimated salaries as projected by MLB Trade Rumors: reliever Ryan Brasier ($2.3 million); starter Nick Pivetta ($5.9 million); outfielder Alex Verdugo ($6.9 million); infielder Christian Arroyo ($2.2 million); and catcher Reese McGuire ($1.3 million).
The team previously settled with outfielder Rob Refsnyder ($1.2 million) and, of course, Rafael Devers ($17.5 million)
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To me room on the 40-man roster for Kuber's addition, the Red Sox designated righty Connor Seabold for assignment.
Seabold suffered an elbow injury early in the 2021 season and never regained his original velocity. He had been obtained, along with Pivetta, in a trade with the Phillies that saw the Sox send relievers Heath Hembree and Brandon Workman to Philadelphia.
Last year, Seabold made five appearances -- all starts -- for the big league club, going 0-4, with an 11.29 ERA.