The Boston Red Sox had arguably the best closer in all of baseball destined to play for another team in 2019 – what changed?
Craig Kimbrel, Red Rocket, flame-thrower, right-armed-chicken-wing, whatever you want to call him, is still one of the best closers in baseball regardless of what you think. One bad week does not make him garbage. The amount of hate this man received must have been silly. Did fans forget that he was a large part of the reason WHY the Red Sox were as good during the regular season?
Yes, the boys from Bean Town had plenty of help from superstar slugger JD Martinez and MVP Mookie Betts, but pitching is where ballgames are won, especially in October. 2017 will probably go down Kimbrel’s best season and also as one of the best seasons numbers wise for a closer in MLB history. Yes, I will admit that the person we saw in 2017 was not the same person we saw in 2018 and was certainly not the person we yearned to see to finish out ballgames this past year.
What changed? Allegedly, Kimbrel was tipping his pitches and opposing teams were figuring it out. Kimbrel doesn’t have an arsenal in his repertoire. The good hitters look for the heater. No one is going to catch up to the pitches that fall right off the table. Unfortunately for them, it’s really hard to catch up to 100 or 101. Pipeline shots are going to happen but at the rate that Kimbrel was gifting opposing hitters? We’re going to have to pray that it doesn’t happen ever again. Like ever.
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Kimbrel rejected his qualifying offer of $17.9 million (obviously), in hopes of landing a contract in the realm of $100 million over the course of 6 seasons. It didn’t work out for Kimbrel and it couldn’t have worked out any better for the Red Sox. Yes, Kimbrel notched 42 saves in 2018 to along with a 5-1 record and 2.74 record while adding 96 punchouts in 68 1/3rd innings. Why isn’t this man getting paid? Players in the bigs don’t get paid for future performance, they get paid on past performance.
Just how bad was Kimbrel’s last bit of work? Well if we take the month of September, Kimbrel had one ugly outing and when I say ugly, I mean really ugly. Four earned runs on no hits while recording just a single out and in addition to walking three. It was an odd stat line to say the least in addition to also being very un-Kimbrel-like. In 10 appearances in September, Kimbrel gave up only one hit. Five saves and a win in the last month of the season. Here we go October! What could go wrong? Everything.
In 9 October outings, Kimbrel flat out failed. He surrendered seven earned runs on 9 hits in 10 2/3 innings including 8 walks, 2 home runs allowed and 10 strike outs. At least the strike out numbers are there. Why is Kimbrel not getting his big deal? Simple, the last memory that every GM has of Kimbrel, he fell apart. No one wants to reward a player for a performance like that.
Does Kimbrel deserve to be paid like one of the best closers in baseball? Yes, in most opinions he does. Does he deserve a contract length extending three years? Let’s not be silly. If the Red Sox were to consider giving Kimbrel a 3 year deal for $48 million with a 4th year team option, I think some might shudder at the idea. You have to think though, he has to bounce back. No way can the situation can get worse. Is he the best solution? Perhaps not but what else is out there?
The Sox will have some time to make a decision. No one at the present moment is knocking on his door. Losing Joe Kelly to the team that lost to the Red Sox in the 2018 World Series doesn’t help either. Kelly would have been a perfect solution and a much more financially efficient closer in Boston. What the Red Sox need to consider now is, with the big looming contracts of their future stars post-arbitration, is giving Kimbrel a multi-year deal the best move going forward?
There’s still a little bit of time left before anything major decision needs to get made. All Sox fans can hope now is that the right one gets done.