Rangers decline $18M option on two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber

As had been expected since even before the end of the season, the Texas Rangers are letting veteran right-hander and two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber go. 

Per Jason Wilson of The Score, the Texas Rangers have declined the $18 million team option attached to Kluber's rights. Kluber will enter free agency, but it's possible Texas could attempt to bring him back at a discounted price. 

The 34-year-old joined the Rangers via a trade from the Cleveland Indians last December, and he made his debut for his new club on July 26 against the Colorado Rockies. Kluber pitched one inning and then left the game due to what was, per the official MLB website, diagnosed as a Grade 2 tear of the teres major muscle in his right shoulder. 

Kluber never returned to the bump during the pandemic-shortened season. 

It was just the latest physical setback for Kluber, who hadn't pitched in an official game since he started for the Indians on May 1, 2019, against the Miami Marlins. He was hit with a line drive during that appearance and went down to a non-displaced fracture of the ulna in his right arm, as Brandon Bowers of 247Sports noted. 

A three-time All-Star, Kluber earned Cy Young honors with the Indians in 2014 and 2017. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com linked Kluber with the New York Yankees: