Should the Baltimore Orioles Be Nervous with Kimbrel at Closer?
It's been an interesting offseason for the Baltimore Orioles.
They left the 2023 MLB season as the best team in the AL East and then the very young team was eliminated by the eventual World Series champions in the postseason.
That prompted tough talk out of the front office about the desire to acquire top end talent this past winter, to include a top of the rotation-type pitcher.
Also, with the need for a closer following Félix Bautista's UCL injury, many thought that perhaps a push for Josh Hader or a comparable relief pitcher could be on the table.
The front office did come through by trading for Corbin Burnes, a shrewd move that instantly upgraded a roster that really didn't lose much in the way of talent this offseason.
But the corresponding move to address the bullpen was to add Craig Kimbrel, a 35-year old veteran, with the intent to slot him in as the closer.
The Camden Chat outlet did a phenomenal deep dive into Kimbrel's effectiveness. As it turns out, the projections for the wily veteran are... not great. They really never are at that age when trying to perform in the highest leverage role in one of the toughest divisions in all of baseball.
As someone who has watched and extensively covered Kimbrel at his last two clubs, there has been considerable drop-off since his historic 2017 season with the Boston Red Sox and even from his quite good 2021 season in Chicago.
Last year with the Philadelphia Phillies, Kimbrel improved a tick and recorded 23 saves. However, the Phillies really play the closer role with a committee and by the time Philadelphia reached the NLCS against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Kimbrel looked like a completely different pitcher. In fact, he played a large role in why the Phillies didn't reach their second-consecutive World Series.
With Baltimore, Kimbrel may be an effective closer early, but holding up down the stretch and into the postseason will be a lingering question. Especially if he is the go-to guy every night rather than managing the closer role by committee.
In the end, it is very likely that the Orioles will need to add a high-leverage arm at the trade deadline in order to prevent any meltdown that could occur with Kimbrel from sheer workload at an inopportune time.
