The New York Mets have signed yet another reliever to a minor-league deal, but this time the name is much more recognizable. Right-hander Craig Kimbrel has an estimable resume as a closer, and over the weekend he signed a contract that will pay him $2.5 million if he manages to crack the Mets roster coming out of spring training, with the deal reported by Will Sammon of The Athletic.
It’s an interesting gamble for both sides. The Mets have done several of these sorts of signings in the wake of the deal for pitchers Freddy Peralta and Tobias Myers, but most have involved names that casual fans wouldn’t recognize. Kimbrel is the opposite of that, a once-dominant closer who’s still pitching at the age of 37.
In theory, the Mets do have a couple of bullpen positions to fill. Myers is expected to slot into the swing-man role initially, with Luke Weaver expected to fill one of the setup positions. The left-handers in the pen aren’t carved in stone, especially with A.J. Minter likely to start the season on the injured list, so there’s room for Kimbrel if he still has something in the tank. Moreover, his experience finishing games as a backup to new closer Devin Williams makes him an intriguing “break glass in case of emergency” option.
For Kimbrel, he seems to be one of those players who seems determined to extract every last drop of talent from the tank before he rides off into the sunset. He’s a nine-time All-Star and a former Mets nemesis with the Atlanta Braves, and he’s fifth on the career saves list with 440, according to Sammon.
More recently, Kimbrel made 14 appearances last season with the Houston Astros and the Braves, pitching to a 2.25 ERA. He spent most of his time at Triple A, where he had a 3.32 ERA in 35-2/3 innings. He gets a real big-league salary if he makes the club, but at this point it’s anyone’s guess if Kimbrel will retire or pitch at Triple A Syracuse if he doesn’t.
He’ll have a lot of names to compete with, but none of them are particularly formicdable, and several of the relievers on it rode the Syracuse shuttle as the Mets bullpen struggled down the stretch.
The list of pitchers Sammon named included the likes of Huascar Brazobán, Adbert Alzolay, Justin Hagenman, Brandon Waddell, Dylan Ross, Jonathan Pintaro, Austin Warren and Alex Carrillo, so if Kimbrel can’t beat out these guys, he’ll know it’s probably time to hang it up for good.