![]() The 2022 season was another mixed bag for Kimbrel. The White Sox sent him to the Dodgers the following April. He gave up 13 runs in 23 innings of work. ![]() ![]() After a trade across town to the White Sox, however, Kimbrel fell apart again. His season started right on time, and through his first 39 games, he allowed only two earned runs. Then, in 2021, it looked like Kimbrel had finally turned a corner. He walked 12 batters in 15.1 innings of work and finished with a 5.28 ERA. Unfortunately, the 2020 season got off to a late start too, and, once again, Kimbrel floundered. At the time, most fans wrote off his struggles to his late start. He made 23 appearances that season and struggled quite a bit, giving up far too many walks and home runs. In mid-June – once he was no longer burdened by the qualifying offer – the closer finally inked a three-year, $43 million deal with the Cubs. Somewhat surprisingly, he didn’t find the offers he was looking for, so he remained on the market well into the 2019 season. The 34-year-old righty should still be able to command a solid chunk of change, but he won’t be making closer money anymore – at least not this winter.Īt 30 years old, Kimbrel hit free agency for the first time. Most big league front offices, however, will see right through that facade. Kimbrel will attempt to use his strong performance over the final weeks of the season to earn another big payday in free agency. Thus, the Dodgers made the slightly surprising decision to leave the eight-time All-Star and 2018 World Series Champion off their postseason roster. Instead of whiffing, batters were hitting a ton of Kimbrel’s pitches into play. The biggest problem seemed to be that Kimbrel was having trouble getting opposing hitters to swing and miss at pitches outside the strike zone, something that used to be one of his specialties. ![]() Kimbrel’s strikeout rate plummeted as the year went on, and so his FIP was worse in September and October than at any other point throughout the year. The underlying numbers, however, told a slightly more complicated story. ![]()
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February 2023
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