The Boston Red Sox are bolstering their starting rotation in free agency by signing former Cy Young winner Corey Kluber on a one-year contract, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan. The 36-year-old will play the 2023 season in Boston and his deal includes a club option for the 2024 campaign. The Red Sox will pay Kluber $10 million in 2023 and have an option worth $11 million for the 2024 season.

Via Passan on Twitter:

“Right-hander Corey Kluber and the Boston Red Sox are in agreement on a one-year contract with a club option for 2024, sources familiar with the agreement tell ESPN.”

It's a somewhat head-scratching move from the Red Sox, who just failed to re-sign Nathan Eovaldi and watched Xander Bogaerts depart for sunny San Diego during the offseason. While Kluber will effectively act as an Eovaldi replacement, the move only lends more confusion to the direction Chaim Bloom is trying to take this franchise.

Kluber is a two-time Cy Young winner in Cleveland, having taken home the honors in 2014 and again in 2017. Over the past four seasons, however, injuries have hampered his abilities. Since the start of the 2019 season, Kluber has played for the Guardians (then Indians), Rangers, Yankees, and Rays. During that span, he's pitched 280.2 innings across 55 starts, striking out 260 batters with a 4.36 ERA.

He'll join the Red Sox this offseason in what will be his fifth team in as many seasons, and he'll be hoping to re-discover some of the past form that had him renowned as one of the most dangerous pitchers in baseball. At 36 years old, it's unlikely Kluber can rewind the clock in 2023, making this free agency move from the Red Sox a rather curious one.

In 2022, Corey. Kluber made 31 starts with the Rays and had a 10-10 record. He pitched 164 innings, striking out 139 and walking 21, all while logging a 4.34 ERA.