Despite being one of the best closers in the game, Craig Kimbrel remains unsigned, and it’s for a number of reasons.
At first, Kimbrel reportedly was seeking a pretty massive haul. Then, the season began and teams seemed to be skeptical of signing a guy who had missed spring training. Now, we’re nearing the point where teams won’t lose a draft pick for signing Kimbrel, so it’s almost better to just sit tight for a few more weeks.
While the actual deal teams would be willing to offer the veteran righty remains unclear, it does appear there is a range Kimbrel is looking for. According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Kimbrel is looking for an offer similar to Zack Britton or Wade Davis.
“Kimbrel, sources told The Athletic in mid-April, wants to be in the range of two recent free-agent relievers: Zack Britton (three years, $39 million) and Wade Davis (three years, $52 million),” Rosenthal wrote.
Those deals would be pretty fair for Kimbrel. Teams clearly are reticent to ink pitchers to lengthy contracts, especially when they’re in their 30s. Signing for a deal like Davis would give Kimbrel a pretty high annual value, just for less years.
And given he still is without a team, that might not be a bad deal for the closer.
