Craig Kimbrel 2024

[O's84]

I shudder to think where this pen would be without Kimbrel, even if it got a little dicey this time.

[Billy F-Face3]

13 minutes ago, O's84 said:

I shudder to think where this pen would be without Kimbrel, even if it got a little dicey this time.

I was glad they signed him. He's paying a return on investment, that's for sure.

[Sports Guy]

A lot of people didn’t like this signing.  It was a few bad outings last year but otherwise, he was very good.

He will have some bumps in the road but he’s a very capable guy still.

[CallMeBrooksie]

The Kimbrel experience feels very similar to the Felix experience thus far. Great pickup

[RZNJ]

He’s been a different Kimbrel so far.  Lower velocity but better command.  So far, so good.   He’s been squared up like once all year.

[Orioles West]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

A lot of people didn’t like this signing.  It was a few bad outings last year but otherwise, he was very good.

He will have some bumps in the road but he’s a very capable guy still.

I thought it was a decent signing, but I didn’t imagine him being as good as he has been so far. Some bumps ahead as you mentioned, and some more clutch saves ahead too. That strikeout of Trout with the bases loaded — fun stuff. 

[CallMeBrooksie]

5 minutes ago, Orioles West said:

I thought it was a decent signing, but I didn’t imagine him being as good as he has been so far. Some bumps ahead as you mentioned, and some more clutch saves ahead too. That strikeout of Trout with the bases loaded — fun stuff. 

That was fun to watch. Seems like some hitters whiff on fastballs up in the zone because they can't help themselves. Trout watches fastballs up in the zone because he knows he can't hit it. It's the perfect pitch to Trout, but the margin for error is razor-thin.

[Aristotelian]

2 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

A lot of people didn’t like this signing.  It was a few bad outings last year but otherwise, he was very good.

He will have some bumps in the road but he’s a very capable guy still.

Better than Hader in the earlygoing!

[Roy Firestone]

He's 35...Mariano Rivera retired at 43....Kimbrel was good early last year too. But faded late and in the post season...But the Orioles are in desperate shape for the bullpen. Maybe Well, at some point can help close...or even Suarez down the road.But right now Kimbrel is already overworked.The Os have to go to the well too much.

[Sports Guy]

3 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Better than Hader in the earlygoing!

It was always a better signing than Hader.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

9 minutes ago, Roy Firestone said:

He's 35...Mariano Rivera retired at 43....Kimbrel was good early last year too. But faded late and in the post season...But the Orioles are in desperate shape for the bullpen. Maybe Well, at some point can help close...or even Suarez down the road.But right now Kimbrel is already overworked.The Os have to go to the well too much.

This is what I was thinking watching the game last night Kimbrel is likely to fade in the second half at his current usage rate. Kimbrel has pitched in 10 of the Orioles 22 games this season.

I'm expecting a trade or two at the deadline to bolster the bullpen in addition to seeing Wells and Suarez possibly moved to a bullpen role.

[Frobby]

Kimbrel got the save tonight despite allowing a run on a 65 mph infield chopper, a 2 base error and an RBI grounder.  

Kimbrel has allowed 5 hits this season:

4/1: 70.5 mph bloop that eluded Gunnar and Hays

4/14: 74.4 mph single

4/14: 104.4 mph

4/21 71.1 mph doink single

4/24 65.5 mph infield chopper single

Really, only one hard-hit ball among the 5 hits, all singles.   

7 saves in 8 chances, with the one blown save in his first appearance ending up in a win for Kimbrel, who’s now 3-0 in addition to the 7 saves.  

He’s appeared 11 times in 24 games, which is not sustainable.  We need to do a better job of maintaining 4+ run leads and not letting our opponents back into the game.  
 

[Roy Firestone]

8 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Kimbrel got the save tonight despite allowing a run on a 65 mph infield chopper, a 2 base error and an RBI grounder.  

Kimbrel has allowed 5 hits this season:

4/1: 70.5 mph bloop that eluded Gunnar and Hays

4/14: 74.4 mph single

4/14: 104.4 mph

4/21 71.1 mph doink single

4/24 65.5 mph infield chopper single

Really, only one hard-hit ball among the 5 hits, all singles.   

7 saves in 8 chances, with the one blown save in his first appearance ending up in a win for Kimbrel, who’s now 3-0 in addition to the 7 saves.  

He’s appeared 11 times in 24 games, which is not sustainable.  We need to do a better job of maintaining 4+ run leads and not letting our opponents back into the game.  
 

Kimbrel also walked the batter  with 2 out in a 1 run game, and probably caught a big break because the umpire, in my view, blew a safe call to end the game. Just too MUCH  drama for a closer...Monday night was another  Houdini escape. Boy, as solid as Kimbrel has been, do WE miss Felix.

[Sports Guy]

The bullpen is hot garbage.  There are some capable guys out there and I think we can largely rely on Cano and DC (and obviously Kimbrel) but really, you don’t have confidence in anyone else and even those guys can be shaky.

Plus they don’t use DC for enough batters imo.

[dystopia]

3 minutes ago, Roy Firestone said:

Kimbrel also walked the batter  with 2 out in a 1 run game, and probably caught a big break because the umpire, in my view, blew a safe call to end the game. Just too MUCH  drama for a closer...Monday night was another  Houdini escape. Boy, as solid as Kimbrel has been, do WE miss Felix.

His WHIP is 0.64, so prepare for more drama because that’s not sustainable. Felix had a 0.92 WHIP last year.