Orioles Nearing Deal With Closer Craig Kimbrel
While the rest of the baseball world awaits Shohei Ohtani’s sport-shattering decision, the Baltimore Orioles appear to be making progress filling a massive hole at the back end of their bullpen.
Late Tuesday night, the New York Post’s Joel Sherman reported the Orioles have been “seriously engaged” in contract negotiations with free agent reliever Craig Kimbrel. His arrival would help fill the void left by closer Félix Bautista, who underwent Tommy John surgery last season and will likely miss all of 2024.
The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported both sides were inching closer to a deal Wednesday morning, revealing that Kimbrel would become Baltimore’s closer next season if signed, solidifying a one-two punch with fellow All-Star Yennier Cano.
There’s no replacing Bautista, the reigning AL Reliever of the Year and one of the sport’s most fearsome pitchers. But outside of Josh Hader, the top free-agent reliever available, there isn’t a more established hurler on the open market to step into that ninth-inning role than Kimbrel.
The 35-year-old righty is among baseball’s most decorated relievers, as a nine-time All-Star and a two-time Reliever of the Year winner – capturing the award in both leagues. He notched his 400th career save last May, becoming the eighth pitcher all-time to reach that mark.
Kimbrel, a third-round selection in 2008, owns a 39.4% strikeout rate across 757.1 career innings, the second-highest percentage in MLB history among pitchers with at least 500 innings pitched, trailing only Aroldis Chapman (40.3%).
The Huntsville, Alabama, native sits third in career ERA (2.40) on the all-time reliever list, positioned behind seven-time All-Star Billy Wagner (2.31) and Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera (2.06).
For his career, Kimbrel has logged 780 relief appearances split between the Atlanta Braves (2010-14), San Diego Padres (2015), Boston Red Sox (2016-18), Chicago Cubs (2019-21), White Sox (2021), Los Angeles Dodgers (2022) and Philadelphia Phillies (2023).
The 2010 NL Rookie of the Year made three straight postseason appearances over his three seasons in Boston, capturing his first World Series during the franchise’s memorable playoff run in 2018. But he hasn’t made it past the League Championship Series since then.
Father Time has begun to creep up on Kimbrel in recent years, with the veteran righty losing his closer’s role in consecutive seasons while playing on one-year deals with the Dodgers and Phillies, respectively.
Last season, Kimbrel posted 23 saves and a respectable 3.26 ERA over 71 appearances – the second-most of his career – but issued a 3.81 FIP and a walk rate north of 10 percent for the fifth time in six seasons. What’s worse is his 46.7% hard-hit rate against placed in the bottom fourth percentile of the majors.
Those struggles carried over into the postseason as the hard-throwing reliever surrendered four runs on six hits and five walks in seven games, resulting in a blown save in Game 4 of the NLCS. Overall, he features a troubling 4.50 ERA and 5.16 FIP across 30 career playoff outings.
Kimbrel has converted 417 saves over his 14 career major-league seasons. If he spends his 15th as Baltimore’s primary ninth-inning hurler, he could pass legendary arms such as Wagner (422), John Franco (424) and Francisco Rodríguez (437) on MLB’s all-time saves list.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
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