The Orioles introduced Wednesday that they’ve designated veteran right-hander Craig Kimbrel for project. Baltimore has recalled righty Bryan Baker from Triple-A Norfolk in his place.
Kimbrel, 36, was signed to a one-year, $13MM deal over the winter after All-Star nearer Felix Bautista required Tommy John surgical procedure final October. The membership banked on Kimbrel’s monitor report and glorious strikeout price serving to to solidify the ninth inning, even after Kimbrel had a shaky end to his 2023 stint with the Phillies — together with three innings of NLCS work whereby he yielded 4 runs.
No less than early within the yr, Kimbrel was usually efficient, even whereas strolling a highwire. His stroll price was up, however so was his strikeout price, and regardless of 4 blown saves within the season’s first half he pitched to a pristine 2.10 earned run common. As issues have gone off the rails because the All-Star break, he’s ceded the ninth inning to deadline pickup and former Phillies teammate Seranthony Dominguez.
Courting again to July 14, Kimbrel has been decimated for 25 runs (23 of them earned) in 18 innings of labor. He’s yielded 23 hits (5 of them homers), walked 17 batters and plunked a hitter throughout that disastrous run. The tipping level was a six-run meltdown in final night time’s loss to the Giants. Kimbrel confronted eight batters, allowed three hits (two singles and a double), walked two hitters and allowed a runner to advance on a wild pitch in what was his worst and certain final outing of the 2024 season.
Kimbrel can be positioned on waivers, and he’ll absolutely clear. He’d be ineligible for the postseason roster with one other membership, and a claiming staff could be on the hook for the prorated the rest of this yr’s $12MM wage and the $1MM buyout on subsequent yr’s membership choice. No staff goes to make that transfer. He’ll clear waivers and be launched, at which level the membership choice can be moot (although the O’s will nonetheless owe him that $1MM buyout). He may signal with another membership for the ultimate few days of the season, however it’s doable he’ll merely wait till the offseason to hunt out his subsequent alternative.
Kimbrel’s second half has been so ugly that it’s overshadowed his glorious first half, however a run of two unhealthy months shouldn’t torch any and all curiosity in him over the winter. He’s not the dominant high-leverage drive he as soon as was, however he nonetheless fanned 31.5% of his opponents this season and turned in a robust 11.8% swinging-strike price. His fastball is down from a mean of 95.8 mph in 2023 to 93.9 mph in 2024, per Statcast. It doesn’t appear possible that he’ll be handed a closing job this offseason, however assuming he desires to proceed pitching, Kimbrel ought to discover curiosity on lower-priced large league offers — maybe with incentives based mostly on video games completed within the occasion that he ascends again to the nearer’s function in his subsequent vacation spot.
Kimbrel presently ranks fifth all-time with 440 saves and is barely six behind one other still-active nearer, Kenley Jansen, for the fourth spot on that record. Both pitcher may nonetheless catch Lee Smith for No. 3 all-time (478), however climbing north of 600 alongside Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman isn’t going to occur. In 809 2/3 profession innings, Kimbrel has a 2.59 ERA, 56 wins, 26 holds and 1265 strikeouts (38.8%) to go together with these 440 saves.
