Hey, the Orioles did something at the Winter Meetings! No, they didn’t trade away any of their logjam of top middle infield prospects for major-league pitching, and no they didn’t sign a free agent to a multi-year deal. We’ll have to keep waiting for the Elias/Angelos regime to clear either of those hurdles to show us they can actually do it.
One year, $13M.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 6, 2023
In the meantime, they’ve inked yet another one-year deal, this time with veteran closer Craig Kimbrel. Per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Joel Sherman of MLB Network, negotiations heated up last night and were finalized today. Interestingly, Rosenthal also reports that Kimbrel has already been named the O’s closer for 2024. While that seems a bit premature, it’s not an unheard of part of negotiations for a player with Kimbrel’s body of work. And there’s no reason to believe that he’d remain the closer if he struggled in the role (let’s hope he doesn’t!).
Kimbrel, 35, is well known for his “chicken wing” pose while looking in for the sign, and O’s fans probably remember him best from his time in Boston from 2016-18, where he was a World Series Champion. Since then, he’s bounced around quite a bit, pitching for the Cubs, White Sox, Dodgers, and most recently, Phillies. Last season in Philly, he posted a 3.26 ERA in 69 IP, with a 12.3 K/9 rate. He’s been an All-Star nine times, including last year and in 2021.
That 69 number, in addition to being nice, represented the most innings Kimbrel had pitched in a season since 2017, which could explain why everyone’s most recent impression of him is getting beat around in September and October. At this stage of his career, he probably needs some more intentional load management. As long as the O’s keep that in mind headed into the season, hopefully he’ll be ready to go down the stretch and into October, which should be everyone’s goal.
(Fortunately, Brandon Hyde never overuses his relievers early in the season. Can you hear my eyes rolling out of the top of my skull?)
Much of Birdland is unimpressed with the move, and it’s understandable. We want more tangible improvements to a team that just won 101 games. But especially with no Felix Bautista, Kimbrel undoubtedly makes the bullpen better. He could also provide a nice veteran presence to the group, akin to what Kyle Gibson provided to the starting rotation in 2023. Doesn’t the idea of younger high-leverage relievers like DL Hall, Yennier Cano, Dillon Tate (remember him?), and perhaps Tyler Wells out there bending the ear of Kimbrel every night sound like it could be a good reason to have him around?
His Statcast numbers show a guy who still misses bats at an elite level.
Here’s hoping Kimbrel performs well enough to be the closer all year. This move doesn’t mean the Birds are suddenly a more serious contender, but it helps the bullpen. That’s a start.
