San Diego Padres closer Craig Kimbrel could be on the move for the second time in four months. The Padres haven’t made any trades this July, yet are reportedly in discussions with multiple teams about multiple players, including Kimbrel. The teams hottest on Kimbrel? The AL East leading Yankees and AL West leading Astros.
The Padres spoke overnight with both the New York Yankees and Houston Astros about deals involving their all-star closer, sources told ESPN.com, and were attempting to come to an agreement on prospects and how much of the approximately $29 million remaining on Kimbrel’s contract each team would pick up.
The Yankees are believed to be willing to assume all of Kimbrel’s money, but are balking at including their most highly coveted prospects — either pitcher Luis Severino, outfielder Aaron Judge or first baseman Greg Bird.
The Astros and Padres are said to be working on a potentially larger deal that could include both Kimbrel and one of the Padres controllable starting pitchers, Tyson Ross or Andrew Cashner.
Kimbrel is having a down year (for him, at least) in 2015. His ERA for the year is a career-worst 2.68, and he’s struck out 56 and walked 15 in 40 1/3 innings. However, Kimbrel has saved 30 games for the Padres this year, and blown just one.The 27-year old is owed the balance on a $9 million salary this season, $11 million in 2016, $13 million in 2017, and has a $1 million buyout on a 2018 club option for $13 million.
The Yankees don’t really “need” Kimbrel – they’ve gotten fantastic years in their pen from Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller, Justin Wilson, and Chasen Shreve. But adding Kimbrel *would* add another elite arm to that bullpen and would give Joe Girardi another option in the middle innings to spell a starting rotation that has been erratic for most of the season.
As for the Astros, their bullpen has been worlds better this season compared to last, but they still don’t have that lockdown guy at the end of games. Acquiring Kimbrel could allow them to bump Luke Gregerson to a more familiar set-up role. Also, the team’s desire to add a second starting pitcher (after already picking up Scott Kazmir from the Athletics) is quite interesting, as it would end up bumping Collin McHugh or Scott Feldman to a new role. It’s also a bit curious considering their acquisition of Mike Fiers on Thursday in the Carlos Gomez trade, but it’s better to have too many starters rather than not enough.
Giddy up, folks – the chaos of the day is just beginning.
