Craig Kimbrel 2024

[CaptainRedbeard]

14 minutes ago, Frobby said:

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.  
 

RPs get used a bit more frequently early in the season with more frequent off days, SPs still building up and when the RPs are still fresh. There were 61 RPs with more appearances than Kimbrel’s 10 coming into today, and 109 RPs with 10 or more appearances coming into today.

The thing that kills me is using the closer with a 4 run lead. Hyde did that with Bautista a few times last year, I hope we don’t see that with Kimbrel. 

[Moose Milligan]

5 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

 

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

Agreed. Seems like the last three times out they’ve pulled him when he’s looked sharp and could still keep going. 
 

Kimbrel has been a godsend.  

[Say O!]

Encouraged to see FB velo tick back up with the improved weather…averaged 95mph today and touched 97mph.

[Moshagge3]

3 minutes ago, Say O! said:

Encouraged to see FB velo tick back up with the improved weather…averaged 95mph today and touched 97mph.

He should have come right after Adell. No way was he touching Kimbrel's fastball in the upper part of the zone.

[Frobby]

35 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.

Couldn’t disagree more about “too much drama for a closer.”   He has an 0.64 WHIP, a .139 BAA, 0.82 ERA, 13.9 K/9.   You are living in a fantasy world if you think that’s too much drama for a closer.  4 of the 5 hits were softly hit balls and he’s walked 2 guys in 11 innings.

Felix last year had a 1.48 ERA (worse than Kimbrel’s), an 0.91 WHIP (worse than Kimbrel’s), and walked 26 batters in 61 innings (way worse than Kimbrel’s).  He blew 6 saves, and yielded 4 homers, each of which blew a save.  

I’m not saying any of this because I think 2024 Kimbrel will be better than 2023 Bautista when this year is over.  I’m just showing that Kimbrel has been OUTSTANDING over his first 11 appearances.  Too much drama?  Bullhockey.  No closer avoids all drama.  
 

Edited April 25 by Frobby

[emmett16]

I’ve been super skeptical.  I’ve also been pretty impressed so far.  He sure doesn’t get rattled.  Hasn’t been pretty but he’s gotten the job done.  Nice to see the uptick in velo. 

[Frobby]

Felix allowed multiple baserunners 14 times in 56 appearances last year.  Too much drama for a closer?  It happens.  

[Malike]

He's given up how many "hits"? 4 or 5 or so? I'm probably misremembering but at least 3 seemed lucky, including today.

[interloper]

Hit 97 today at one point. He looks great right now.

[Sports Guy]

31 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

I’ve been super skeptical.  I’ve also been pretty impressed so far.  He sure doesn’t get rattled.  Hasn’t been pretty but he’s gotten the job done.  Nice to see the uptick in velo. 

Hasn’t been pretty?  They have barely touched the ball. 

[Dunk35]

If he continues this, you gotta pick up the option. And if Felix can come back around ASG break 2025, id love that 1/2 back end. 

[Spy Fox]

52 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’m not saying any of this because I think 2024 Kimbrel will be better than 2023 Bautista when this year is over.  I’m just showing that Kimbrel has been OUTSTANDING over his first 11 appearances.  Too much drama?  Bullhockey.  No closer avoids all drama.  

Careful @Roy Firestone-- Cranky Frobby™ is on the prowl for bullhockey! 

[Billy F-Face3]

1 hour 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.

We could definitely use Felix but I think that's because the rest of the bullpen has been having so much trouble. If we are comparing closer to closer in a zero sum game between Felix or Kimbrell, I do remember Felix giving us all kinds of drama last season when runners would get on base and steal off of him due to his long wind up, or he'd lose his command and start walking batters. There's also the occasional ill-timed home run he was prone to give up sometimes.

Back in the game threads we were sweating a lot of those situations with Felix on the mound. But with that said, Felix found his way to success the large majority of the time so I don't want to degrade his performances. Just a reminder that these guys are still human and they still have their own competitive struggles from time to time too.

[dystopia]

26 minutes ago, Dunk35 said:

If he continues this, you gotta pick up the option. And if Felix can come back around ASG break 2025, id love that 1/2 back end. 

Shouldn't he be back by April of next year?

[Dunk35]

1 minute ago, dystopia said:

Shouldn't he be back by April of next year?

Means is going on almost 2 years so we'll see...