Phillies bank on Craig Kimbrel rebound with one-year deal

The Phillies are signing closer Craig Kimbrel to a one-year deal with hopes of rehabilitating him after a deflating end to his time with the Dodgers.

Craig Kimbrel didn’t exactly set the world on fire with the Dodgers this past season. And he certainly didn’t help them in their World Series pursuit. He didn’t even make their NLDS roster.

The Phillies are hoping they can get different, better results from Kimbrel in 2023.

Ken Rosenthal first reported Philadelphia’s deal with Kimbrel with Jeff Passan adding the detail that it’s for one year and worth $10 million.

Can Craig Kimbrel revive his career with the Phillies?

Kimbrel is a seven-time All-Star, most recently holding that honor in 2021. However, his recent history makes this addition a bit of a risk for Philadephia at $10 million, which will make him the highest-paid arm in their bullpen.

The closer had 22 saves in 63 appearances with the Dodgers. That was an improvement of his 5.09 ERA with the White Sox at the tail end of 2022 and it’s certainly better than any player the 2022 bullpen. Corey Knebel led the team with 12 saves.

However, Kimbrel struggled with his command at times, tossed seven wild pitches and blew four saves for Los Angeles. His ERA of 3.75 was reflective of his inconsistent pitching, giving up runs in chunks even if he had enough good nights to rack up his save count. He lost his job as the Dodger’s lead closer in September and wasn’t included on their postseason roster.

Phillies fans will be glad to hear that Kimbrel has pitched 19.1 innings at Citizens Bank Park, giving up just 10 hits and no runs. The sample size isn’t bad on that either. He’s played more games at only five other parks in MLB.

With this move, Phillies president of baseball operations David Dombrowski is being reunited with the pitcher who was in fantastic form for the Red Sox when he was in charge in Boston.