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Red Sox lose closer Craig Kimbrel to freak knee injury
The already beleaguered Boston Red Sox bullpen was dealt another blow on Saturday with the news that closer Craig Kimbrel will be sidelined for 3-6 weeks.
According to the Red Sox, Kimbrel will require surgery to repair a medial meniscus tear in his left knee. The team also confirmed the injury happened while Kimbrel was shagging fly balls in batting practice.
Kimbrel injured knee while shagging during BP — second Red Sox pitcher to do so this season. "We can't put guys in bubbles," Farrell said.
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) July 9, 2016
Red Sox manager John Farrell makes a good point, though there’s nothing saying pitchers can’t stay in the dugout or clubhouse during batting practice either. One would think that lesson was learned when Mariano Rivera blew out his knee shagging fly balls in 2012.
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We assumed the Red Sox would be among baseball’s most active teams in the trade market this month, but necessity has now forced them to be aggressive in the process. The Red Sox have completed three trades just in the last three days, with the biggest being directly influenced by Kimbrel’s injury status.
In the early morning hours on Saturday, general manager Dave Dombrowski acquired veteran reliever Brad Ziegler from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ziegler had been acting as Arizona’s closer, and had performed well in the role, picking up 48 saves over the last two seasons.
Ziegler doesn’t possess a power arm like Kimbrel’s, but he will give Boston some added experience and some proven toughness to go along with Koji Uehara in the late innings. The 36-year-old Ziegler has seen every situation there is to see, so Farrell should have no issue calling his number.
Boston also bolstered its bench this month, adding infielder Aaron Hill in a deal with Milwaukee and utility man Michael Martinez in a deal with Cleveland. Those trades are all about depth, but now Dombrowski’s focus will likely turn toward adding a starter who can lengthen Boston’s rotation.
In fact, there’s already a feeling of when, not if, Dombrowski will swing a much larger deal aimed to position the Red Sox as legitimate contenders.
Like the little deals Dombrowski has been making (though Basabe is an interesting prospect). Fells like he's setting stage for a big one.
— Chad Finn (@GlobeChadFinn) July 9, 2016
As Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald reported this week, Boston has been in touch with the Padres, who should be willing to move one or both of starting pitchers Drew Pomeranz and Andrew Cashner. They’ve also reportedly sent senior VP of baseball ops Frank Wren out to scout both Rich Hill of the A’s and Julio Teheran of the Braves, the latter of which Wren knows from his days in Atlanta.
There’s too much smoke for there not to be a fire, but the process of adding a starter figures to be far more complicated than these early dealings.
Dombrowski: "It's not an easy SP market. You can get a starting pitcher. But is it a starting pitcher that helps you?"
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) July 9, 2016
Dombrowski on SP market: "The names we don't want to trade always start the conversation."
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) July 9, 2016
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see just how aggressive Dombrowski will be assuming he identifies a clear target.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
