While the baseball world awaits the free-agent decisions of both Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, the best reliever left on the market still is searching for his next contract.
Closer Craig Kimbrel, who has spent the last three seasons with the Boston Red Sox, reportedly is searching for a contract in the range of six-years, $100 million but hasn’t appeared to draw a ton of interest on the open market thus far.
The Red Sox reportedly are in wait-and-see mode with Kimbrel, hoping the All-Star closer’s asking price comes down before choosing to cut bait and take their bullpen in a different direction.
With 2019 officially here, Kimbrel’s options reportedly appear limited at the moment. ESPN’s Jeff Passan published an in-depth piece on the current landscape of the free-agent market Wednesday and noted there appears to be only one team other than Boston that could have interest in giving Kimbrel a lucrative deal: the Philadelphia Phillies.
Passan crosses off a number of possible landing spots for the 30-year-old right-hander, noting neither the Chicago White Sox or Los Angeles Angels plan to spend big on relievers, the Minnesota Twins plan to stock their bullpen with players on one-year deals, the Tampa Bay Rays are not interested and the Atlanta Braves are content with their young crop of relievers.
As for the Phillies, Passan notes Philadelphia is in “win-now mode” and its owner has mentioned the club plans to be “a little stupid” with its money this offseason.
Philadelphia reportedly has met with Manny Machado and has interest in Bryce Harper as well, so the Phillies could be quite busy this winter.
As for the Red Sox, Boston reportedly is eyeing Adam Ottavino as a potential bullpen piece but seems to be waiting on Kimbrel at the moment.
