With Hader out for the remainder of the regular season, signing a guy who won’t fold in the spotlight is important. Kimbrel was last elite in 2018, and since then he’s been a really solid reliever 3 out of the next 6 seasons. He’s been a below average reliever in the other 3 seasons. I’m most counting the 2020 Covid season… It definitely does not hurt to see if you can catch lightning in a bottle with Kimbrel. The way to make an elite bullpen average, is to simply overload their arms with innings. Here’s to hoping the Astros pitching coaches can figure out Kimbrel and get him being elite again.
Interesting… or desperate, glass half full of half empty. High strikeout rate in the minors and from what I have seen he seems to be throwing with less velocity but more movement. More walks than in his prime. I know everyone in baseball is laughing at this signing - but even in a couple of his recent “bad” seasons, he was close to dominant for half a season. So it’s possible he comes in and does the job. I was really hoping some of these other relievers/starters around the league would get released and the Astros could pounce.
Read Devil In The White City… good casual reading and does an excellent job explaining how Chicago rebuilt right after the fire and the World Fair.
The way I see it, it gives us a low leverage reliever (Neris role) that has playoff experience in the bullpen. After Abreu (and Hader) there really isn't anyone in the pen who has been in the playoffs. This gives us someone to fill, maybe, that leadership role. I haven't looked but did the bullpen's struggles start when we DFAd Neris and lost the leadership? (did I really just wish for Neris back?)
