The Baltimore Orioles brought in a legendary closer to fill the shoes of their injured start, but it’s only expected to be a one-year stay after he imploded this season.
Mark Feisand of MLB.com looked through the big name players with contract options that need to be settled this offseason and found Craig Kimbrel’s situation easy to read.
After Felix Bautista was slated to miss the entire 2024 season, the Orioles brought in Kimbrel on a one-year, $13 million deal. That contract also had a club option worth another $13 million, it would be shocking to see his option picked up at this point.
The 36-year-old was an All-Star just last season, but a playoff collapse had him move on from the Philadelphia Phillies after one season. Baltimore hoped they could find an elite option in the absence of their star closer, but Kimbrel just hasn’t been the answer.
His time in Baltimore has been full of ups-and-downs, but is very down right now.
There was a two-month stretch in the middle of the year where he looked like vintage Kimbrel. He had a 1.57 ERA over 25 games with 16 saves to just one blown save.
Over his last 12, though, his ERA is all the way up to 9.53 with as many walks as strikeouts. He hasn’t converted a save since July 7. It’s clear that he lost the job and the team is going in a different direction.
Even since moving on from him, the Orioles haven’t had much luck at closer.
Recently acquired Seranthony Dominguez had a nice start as a closer, converting his first three chances (four total on the season), but his last two outings have ended with walk off home runs.
The Baltimore bullpen, as a whole, has been lagging behind in the second half of the season. They currently rank as the fourth-worst staff ERA in that time.
Mercifully, Bautista is expected to come back for next season. Of course, it will need to be seen how good he is after Tommy John surgery, but his track record has been good enough to rely on.
The Orioles had gotten comfortable with an elite closer, as the 29-year-old had a 1.85 ERA over his first career 126.2 innings. He struck out 16.2 batters per nine innings last year.
With him back, there’s simply no reason to keep Kimbrel around for another season at such a high price tag.
