"Probably in between there. I think he's a top of the rotation starter. Period," Daniels said on 105.3 The Fan. "At what level ... There's got to be some question marks with a guy who didn't pitch last year. But you go back and read all of our reports from over the years and one of the lines that the scouts would write is that even when his velocity ticks back a mile or two an hour, he's still going to be effective because his command and movement (of his pitches) is so good.
Related
"His work ethic is so good that he's going to get the most out of himself. That was one of Michael Young's comments when we were going through it was that, 'ultimately, I want to bet on this guy because he's going to get the absolute most of whatever he's got.' So all those things add up and we feel pretty good we're going to get a very effective starter next year."
Kluber is coming off a season where he went 2-3 with a 5.80 ERA in seven starts. He would later suffer a broken forearm and an oblique strain to end his season. Prior to 2019, he won two AL CY Young awards and has a career ERA of 3.16.
As for what's next for the club this offseason, Daniels reiterated his desire to upgrade their offense.
"We got a lot of work to do. We like our rotation on paper but we got a lot of work to do, especially on the position player side," Daniels said.
When asked specifically if first base, third base and catcher was their focus right now, Daniels agreed that they were looking to upgrade those spots.
"I think all of those. I think that Ronald Guzman at first is a very good defender and I think he has the ability to hit right-handed pitching. How consistent (can he be) ... the jury's still out on that piece of it. I think at a minimum, we're going to look at a right-handed complement unless there's a clear upgrade.
"Third base, we'll look to address that. Catcher, we kind of view that as similar to first base. And then center field, even before we traded Delino we felt like we had some internal options, but that's another spot to where if the right fit (came around then we'll do it)."
Listen to the rest of the interview right here.