Written by Derek Harvey at Bloguin
One day after I wrote about the relief market developing quickly with respect to Darren O’Day, Ken Rosenthal reported that the Red Sox acquired veteran closer Craig Kimbrel from the Padres. In return, San Diego gets four young players: Infielders Carlos Asuaje and Javy Guerra, outfielder Manuel Margot, and left-handed pitcher Logan Allen
The Padres traded for Kimbrel less than a year ago in a seldom seen April trade. He went on to have the worst season of his career. Of course, this is Craig Kimbrel we’re talking about. His worst season is honestly other relievers’ career best. Kimbrel accumulated 39 saves in 59.1 innings with a 2.58 ERA and 2.68 FIP. He struck out a whopping 36.4% of batters faced with a .185 BAA and 1.04 WHIP. His previous three seasons were remarkably similar.
| Seasons | IP | Saves | K% | BB% | HR/9 | BAA | WHIP | ERA | FIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-2014 | 191.1 | 139 | 42.2 | 8.2 | 0.42 | .144 | 0.82 | 1.27 | 1.52 |
He saw a slight jump in his BAA and HR/9 to go along with a slight jump in BABIP. Still, all of these numbers were quite good. His average fastball velocity has actually gotten better over the years too, culminating in a career-high 97.3 mph in 2015. I see no reason to believe that Kimbrel has lost a step. And again, if we’re being blunt, he is probably still better at half-effectiveness than a large majority of major league relievers.
Kimbrel is under contract through the 2017 season with a team option for 2o18. He will make $11 million in 2016 and $13 million in 2017. The team option is worth $13 million with a $1 million buyout.
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