On Saturday, rumors surfaced that Craig Kimbrel might consider sitting out the 2019 season if some team doesn’t meet his asking price. How true are these rumors?
Craig Kimbrel shocked the baseball world when he revealed his asking price of 6-years, $100M during the Baseball Winter Meetings last December. Despite gaining little interest, Kimbrel hasn’t backed down from his asking price, so much so that on Saturday, Jim Bowden of The Athletic reported that the closer might consider sitting out the 2019 season.
According to multiple GMs Craig Kimbrel asking price has still not come down and sources close to Kimbrel think he will consider sitting out the year if he doesn’t get close to his perceived value.
— Jim Bowden⚾️🏈 (@JimBowdenGM) February 23, 2019
There is a legitimate reason for why Kimbrel’s price is so high. In the history of baseball, among ALL RP with a minimum 500 IP all-time, Kimbrel leads everyone in ERA (1.91), FIP (1.96), and K/9 (14.67).
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With the advent of analytics in sports, however, players are no longer getting paid for what they’ve already accomplished but rather for what they can accomplish. In other words, a player’s potential is valued higher than his prior history, especially when that player nearing the end of his prime.
Kimbrel will turn 31 mid-season and is coming off of one of the worst seasons in his career, one in which he looked especially shaky in the postseason. Pair this with the fact that Kimbrel has lost some speed on his fastball, and teams will most certainly continue to punt if he doesn’t start to lower his price.
Upon learning of Bowden’s reports, you’d have to imagine that Kimbrel’s agent went bonkers. This is why through Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, Kimbrel’s agent David Meter said the following:
Craig Kimbrel’s agent, David Meter, on the report that Kimbrel is considering sitting out the season: “The report is wholly inaccurate and Craig looks forward to signing a new contract in the near future. Any report pertaining to his not playing this season is utterly false.”
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 23, 2019
The fact of the matter is that by sitting out a season, Kimbrel would be cutting off his nose to spite his face.
Does Kimbrel deserve to get paid? Sure! But even he should understand that no team is going to invest 6-years on an aging reliever coming off of arguably the worst season of his career.
Craig Kimbrel should take the hint from his agent and sign a contract in the “near future”.