Craig Kimbrel blew a save and was charged with the loss in the Orioles’ 7-6 defeat to the Athletics today, but the veteran closer’s health may be of greater concern. Kimbrel walked Darell Hernaiz and was then visited by the team trainer on the mound, but stayed in the game and allowed a homer to Kyle McCann. That prompted another trainer’s visit and Kimbrel’s departure, and manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko) postgame that Kimbrel was dealing with some upper back tightness. The right-hander was still receiving treatment and it isn’t yet known if a trip to the injured list might be in order.
Kimbrel has failed to convert either of his last two save opportunities, marking his first blown save since his first appearances of the season. In between, he reeled off seven saves and a perfect 0.00 in 10 innings of work, and even today’s outing only boosts his ERA to 3.18 for the season. Overall, the 35-year-old has performed as expected after signing a one-year deal worth $13MM in guaranteed money last winter, as Baltimore was looking for a ninth-inning specialist after Felix Bautista was lost to Tommy John surgery. If Kimbrel needs some recovery time, Yennier Cano or Danny Coulombe are the likeliest candidates to move into closer duties, which would then necessitate another arm being shuffled into the bullpen. One possible relief candidate might be starter Albert Suarez, who is out of minor league options but has pitched so well in fill-in starter duty that the O’s likely don’t want to expose him to waivers in order to move him back to Triple-A. With Kyle Bradish and John Means nearing returns from the IL, the Orioles are in the enviable position of having too many good starters, yet as we’ve potentially seen with this Kimbrel situation, injuries have a way of quickly solving any surpluses.
More from the AL East…
- Speaking of Orioles starters, x-rays were negative on Cole Irvin’s left middle finger were negative after he was hit by a comebacker in Saturday’s 7-0 win over Oakland. Irvin told Kubatko and other media that he isn’t feeling any pain, so there seems to be no concern that he’d miss his next start. With a 3.49 ERA over 28 1/3 innings, Irvin has also pitched well enough to make a case for keeping his rotation job when Bradish and Means are healthy.
- Tommy Kahnle has yet to pitch this season due to shoulder inflammation, as one setback already delayed the Yankees’ initial plan to activate him from the 15-day IL when first eligible. However, manager Aaron Boone told MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and other reporters that Kahnle threw a simulated inning of live batting practice yesterday, and is planning to throw off the mound again in a few days’ time. Kahnle posted a 2.66 ERA in 40 2/3 relief innings for New York last season, in between a season-opening 60-day IL stint due to biceps tendinitis and then more shoulder inflammation that prematurely ended his season in September.
- An oblique strain sent Garrett Whitlock to the 15-day injured list back on April 17, and it looks as if the Red Sox righty-hander will be sidelined beyond just a minimal stint. Manager Alex Cora told reporters (including MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith) that Whitlock has been playing catch “but he still feels it….So no mound progression for him.” Given the tricky nature of oblique injuries, it might’ve counted as a surprise if Whitlock had missed only 15 days, and it isn’t yet clear when he might be back in action. Whitlock was looking tremendous prior to his injury, posting a 1.96 ERA over his first four starts and 18 1/3 innings of the season.
Kimbrel is garbage.
Who else should they have signed instead to cover for Felix?
They made a good signing. Reminds me of people saying Wagner isn’t a hall of famer because of a handful of playoff appearances. Now Kimbrel stinks because of a handful of games. Funny how they overlook every time he does well. They simply expect him to be great when he’s still very good.
Kimbrel was pretty awful the second half of last season – not just the playoffs.
Well once again we then neglect that he must have been spectacular the first half to finish with the numbers he did. Were his name not Craig Kimbrel who would even bring these things up? We are holding his former greatness against him. He’s pitched a ton, almost never getting hurt, and is about to be 36. And he still was dominant to start this season.
It’s remarkable he is still closing games, but I wouldn’t want him closing games, similar to Jansen.
I agree. He’s similar to Jansen. Don’t probably want him closing but he’s just a solid reliever. The fact that he probably shouldn’t be the closer is not his own doing. Then again the closer isn’t even the most important reliever imo. Except in the psychological sense that it’s nice to have someone anchored in that role and not having everyone in the pen auditioning for it and coveting it- and their arbitration salaries increasing if they get it. Then having to take it from them if they pitch poorly. Politics really.
Blown 2 save opportunities in a row. If that’s not bad enough, against the A’s. His 94 mph FB and awful knuckle curve (which is never close to a strike or setting up the next pitch) are terrible.
Again the 3rd commentor overlooking the good he’s done. Did he not pitch like 10 scoreless? His fastball routinely hits 96 and even if it was always 94, who cares? Many of the games best pitchers throw 94 or less. Was he not obviously hurt in the last one? So you are basically complaining that he finally blew a save.
swat – He shouldn’t have pitched either of the two games with his back issues. Only a hater wouldn’t acknowledge an injury affecting performance.
Sounds like a manager issue. I didn’t put him in.
The upper back tightness can be attributed to his goofy bird posing.
Really looks ridiculous and intimidates only squirrels and rodents.
Squirrels and rodents think, “What’s wrong with that dude? Did he hurt his arm?”
run – Who are the other 30 relievers that are better at closing games than Kimbrel? Relievers are highly volatile, so let’s say over the past 3 years.
swat – I’m not sure if the manager knew about it, pitchers tend to hide injuries. It was likely a situation where he thought he could pitch through the first game, and had felt better prior to the second game. This stuff happens, and to much younger pitchers too.
@sultan
Kimbrel has @420 career saves. Before this weekend he’d gone through 10 innings and given up nothing. 0.00, nothing. You can be salty for my crappy A’s winning two tight games against a really good Orioles team, but you might look silly when your starter gave up 4, and middle relief gave up a solo HR yesterday too….
Note that our very youthful closer didn’t pitch yesterday and maybe question the manager?
Kimbrel very good means great is really really brutal my friend. Wagner and Kimbrel in the same breath is vomit inducing. Billy the kid is hof Kimbrel a visitor at best.
Really? Why don’t you take a look at that baseball reference page and review all those seasons that were among the most dominant ever pitched. Now Wags maintained that dominance longer, no doubt. But he’s still one of the handful of best relievers ever. I truly believe, also, that if he stayed in ATL he’d have maintained that dominance longer. He was blindsided by that trade after he had signed an extension. He loved it there and was practically a god to the fans.
He can still be dominant on enough rest. Thomson used him entirely too much last season.
No one. Tyler Wells could have easily filled the role.
They were still down a reliever. Whether they got him to close or not.
Cano and Wells were/are perfectly capable of closing.
LOLLLLLL Cano is NOT CAPABLE OF CLOSING games. What a joke comment.
Kimbrel is incapable of covering for Felix.
Say it to his face
It’s time for MLB taxi squads.
a simulated inning of live batting practice
Huh?
Tyler Wells….time to step up.
You do realize he is injured right now, yes? Repeating that Wells should close over and over doesn’t make it happen when the guy is on the IL.
Temporary. Not long. You’re acting like he’s out for months.
Andrew Bailey says the Sox rotation is “taking on water right now but managing to stay afloat”. Red Sox rotation= The “S.S. Minnow”…
Rsox – A couple weeks ago I pointed out the older Red Sox pitchers have underperformed so far this season. Whether it’s because they refuse to embrace Bailey’s system or they just can’t adapt, who knows. But it’s definitely a concern after watching Joely and Chris this series.
As for Whitlock, we all knew he is injury prone. If he was a fulltime reliever he’d still have these injuries. Shame on the Red Sox for doing nothing last offseason to acquire pitching depth.
IM – Agreed, and relievers are highly volatile. But this is a pretty drastic drop in performance from last year.
How drastic?
He’s already given up more earned runs than all of last year …. and in 40 less innings.
Dude could be hurt too.
I wonder if he hurt his back on that play at the plate Friday when he slid across the dirt.
He had pitched poorly before that play so I am not going to speculate that that play caused his injury
Regardless of whether he can still be a closer, why was he out there today? There was obviously a problem when he blew the save Friday – so he had to know he wasn’t right. Pitching when you are going to hurt your team isn’t heroic – it’s selfish and dumb.
Second question is why did Hyde leave him out there? One warm up pitch proved he was ok, all the visual evidence not withstanding?
When you get to September in a race with the Yankees these losses count the same as ones in the last week.
One warm up pitch proved he was ok, all the visual evidence not withstanding?
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I don’t think it works that way. I’ve had back problems where the issue can last for a couple of weeks. Or can disappear the next day.
I think tuck was questioning the reasoning behind one warm up pitch proving he was OK.
Whitlock’s constant injuries all started after becoming a SP.
He gives the Red Sox no help from the IL. And his effectiveness and health were so good as a late inning RP, Boston needs to get wise and bring him back as a RP again. You can never have enough good relief arms, and he’s just too valuable to be pushed to do something his body has constantly rejected the last few years.
I assume that you can hurt your obliques just as easily throwing a pitch in relief as you can throwing one in a start.
I wanted him in the BP, but he’s pitching pretty well as a starter.