Pages

▼

November 13, 2015

Red Sox Trade For Craig Kimbrel

Ian Browne, MLB.com:
The Red Sox acquired a flame-throwing, four-time All-Star closer in Craig Kimbrel on Friday night, sending four prospects to the San Diego Padres.

Dave Dombrowski's first major acquisition since being hired by the Red Sox as president of baseball operations in August was a doozy, one that paves the way for a bullpen that could dominate in the late innings.

Koji Uehara, the club's closer the last three seasons, will move to the eighth inning. Junichi Tazawa, one of the top setup men in the game the last couple of years, will be responsible for the seventh.

And Kimbrel, smack in the middle of his prime at 27 years old, will be there to finish. The Red Sox have Kimbrel under their contractual control for the next three seasons. ...

To acquire Kimbrel, Dombrowski parted with outfielder Manuel Margot, shortstop Javier Guerra, infielder Carlos Asuaje and lefty Logan Allen.
WEEI's Ryan Hannable looks at what the Red Sox gave up for Kimbrel.
at

6 comments:

  1. allanNovember 14, 2015 at 10:00 AM

    Initial response on SoSH is that this is a bad deal.

    ESPN's Keith Law agrees:
    "If you're a Boston Red Sox fan, this is exactly the trade you feared Dave Dombrowski would make when he joined the front office, trading away the jewels of the majors' best farm system for veterans who are or may be past their peak values. Craig Kimbrel has been one of the best relievers in baseball history, but this is a big overpay for 60 innings of his services a season when he already seems to be starting to decline."

    ReplyDelete
  2. allanNovember 14, 2015 at 10:06 AM

    Dave Cameron is not impressed either:
    "To land Kimbrel, Dombrowksi parted with outfielder Manny Margot, shortstop Javier Guerra, second baseman Carlos Asuaje, and left-handed pitcher Logan Allen, which is a pretty remarkable group of prospects to acquire for any player, much less a relief pitcher. Back in August, not too terribly long before the Braves hired him away from us, Kiley McDaniel rated Margot as the #19 prospect in all of baseball ...
    From my perspective, Margot for Kimbrel alone would have been a deal worth making for the Padres.
    This is a very high price to pay for a reliever. ... [T]he Red Sox will have more work to do this winter, and now have fewer chips with which to do it."

    ReplyDelete
  3. allanNovember 14, 2015 at 10:07 AM

    However, ignoring the price, the 2016 bullpen did just get better.

    I like the 7-8-9 lineup of Taz-Koji-Kimbrel.

    ReplyDelete
  4. allanNovember 14, 2015 at 10:09 AM

    Kimbrel:
    2010 - 0.44 era, 914 era+, 1.53 fip, 1.21 whip, 17.4 k/9
    2011 - 2.10 era, 183 era+, 1.52 fip, 1.04 whip, 14.8 k/9
    2012 - 1.01 era, 399 era+, 0.78 fip, 0.65 whip, 16.7 k/9
    2013 - 1.21 era, 311 era+, 1.93 fip, 0.88 whip, 13.2 k/9
    2014 - 1.61 era, 223 era+, 1.83 fip, 0.91 whip, 13.9 k/9
    2015 - 2.58 era, 142 era+, 2.68 fip, 1.05 whip, 13.2 k/9

    ReplyDelete
  5. allanNovember 14, 2015 at 3:27 PM

    WEEI link added to post.

    ReplyDelete
  6. JereNovember 14, 2015 at 4:05 PM

    "Craig Kimbrel has been one of the best relievers in baseball history, but"

    That has to be some big but comin' up...

    ReplyDelete