Craig Kimbrel to Red Sox: Latest Trade Details, Comments and Reaction
After just one season with the San Diego Padres, closer Craig Kimbrel has been traded to the Boston Red Sox in a five-player deal.
The Padres confirmed Kimbrel was traded Friday to Boston for Manuel Margot, Logan Allen, Carlos Asuaje and Javier Guerra. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports first reported the Red Sox were acquiring Kimbrel.
Kimbrel, 27, was brought to the Padres last spring in the trade that also saw Melvin Upton Jr. join the team, which finished the makeover San Diego underwent last offseason.
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"We needed to get quality back in exchange for Craig. Red Sox came back as a likely fit. They have a lot of depth we wanted to get in to," Padres GM A.J. Preller said, via the team's Twitter account. "We feel like we got guys that will be a part of a championship team in the future."
The Padres struggled mightily in 2015, though Kimbrel wasn't the reason for that. The four-time All-Star finished the year 4-2 with a 2.58 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 87 strikeouts and 39 saves in 43 save opportunities.
There have been rumblings the Red Sox were looking to acquire relief help, though Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reported Cincinnati's Aroldis Chapman was the object of their desire.
"The Red Sox are among the teams with what one major league source described as 'great interest' in Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman," Abraham wrote.
Boston's new president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is continuing a pattern he established in recent years with Detroit. He has been aggressive in trades, moving minor league pieces to bolster the big league roster.
The Red Sox bullpen ranked 26th in ERA last season, so an upgrade was necessary if the team wanted to improve upon its 78-win campaign.
Kimbrel's wicked stuff and high strikeout rate make him one of the game's most potent options in the ninth inning. Add in the fact that he's under contract for the next three years (with a team option in 2018), and Boston dramatically improved with this deal for the foreseeable future.
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