So now we know. It took one move, albeit one fairly expensive move, but we finally have our answer. When Dave Dombrowksi climbed aboard the good ship Fenway as its new Captia- err, President of Baseball Operations, he certainly talked like he knew how to fix the Red Sox. He acted like it, too. Taking essentially full control of front office hiring, he made a concerted effort to bring in outsiders, which reassured fans who felt the team had become entrenched in its own way of thinking. Sure, new General Manager Mike Lazen rose from within, but he is the exception. However, until late last Friday night, he had yet to do anything that showed he actually understood the on-field issues that led Red Sox to their third last-pace finish in four seasons.
Friday’s acquisition of closer Craig Kimbrel from the San Diego Padres was bold. It cost a pretty penny. But it was also a statement move, and it was the right move.
While some may argue that Boston’s biggest weakness last season lay in its starting rotation, the truth is that the bullpen actually performed slightly worse. No one could have called either “good” while maintaining a straight face, yet, little though it may mean, one clearly outperformed the either.
Pitching the eleventh most innings in the league (947.1), the starters clawed their way to a 4.39 ERA, the twenty-fourth worst overall. However, the rotation improved drastically late in the season. In August, the team’s ERA rose to nineteenth in the league. In September, it skyrocketed all the way to fourth.
Over 501 innings pitched, the ‘pen compiled a 4.24 ERA while allowing 236 earned runs and a .264 batting average against. Those numbers are even worse than they look; that ERA was the twenty-sixth worst in the league. Those runs? The seventh most allowed by any team. The BAA tied them with the Atlanta Braves at fourth highest. All while pitching the twelfth fewest innings in the league.
Sure, losing closer Koji Uehara to injury hurt, but alarm bells were sounding before he went down. Prior to his injury, Boston had nobody who could reliably bridge the gap from the game’s starter to the closer; after his injury, they had no reliable option to bridge the gap to.
Kimbrel fits both roles. A career closer, Kimbrel began his career with the Braves. Since 2010, his rookie season, he has posted ERAs of 1.61 or lower in three-out-of-four years, and did not record a WAR lower than 1.3. Kimbrel pitched his way onto the National League All Star team in all of his four full seasons with Atlanta. Yet after just one season, down year though it may have been by Kimbrel’s standards, the Padres had seen enough.
There are other reasons this move makes sense for the Red Sox. Kimbrel young, just twenty-seven years old. Given Uehara’s advanced age (in baseball years), a succession plan had to be found. It has been, and until such time as it must be put into action, the Sox have a reliable arm in front of Koji. Yes, the Red Sox do have to eat the remaining $25 million on Kimbrel’s contract (a pittance to a team with Boston’s finances, by the way), but they have him under team control until his age-thirty season.
Oddly enough, the Sox did not really give up as much as it seems to obtain their newest weapon. Yes, they lost four prospects: outfielder Manuel Margot, infielders Javier Guerra and Carlos Asuaje, and lefty Logan Allen. Only two of those prospects, however, had player even as high as Double-A. Margot is certainly the most notable name of the bunch, but even he expendable, given the obscene depth that Boston’s enjoys in the outfield at the major league level.
The Red Sox also boast one of the deepest farm systems in baseball. Baseball America ranked Boston’s minor league talent second overall headed into the 2015 season, just behind the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs, by the way, produced this season’s rookie of the year in Kris Bryant. The Red Sox acquired a young, four-time All Star bullpen arm, and barely had to skim off the top of their vast reserves of minor league talent.
The best reason to make this move, however, is the first one discussed: it shows that this is Dombrowski’s show now, and he gets it. This is Dave Dombrowski’s move. It’s a move for need, not name, and favors youth and team control. It should, therefore, restore some of the fanbase’s lost faith in the front office. Kimbrel is not the aging, big name slugger which has become Boston’s signature type of acquisition in recent years, and that alone will please the fans. Of course, one reliever does not a World Champion make. Work remains to be done. But this was a really good step in the right direction.
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