We’re 3 weeks into the Spring season and 2 weeks into the games. There’s actually a little bit of Atlanta Braves news to think on.
The Atlanta Braves are now 8-6 in Grapefruit league play as they beat the Phillies last night via a walk-off error. The W-L record is a completely meaningless stat in March, but there are some other pieces of news coming out of Florida to catch up on.
No on Kimbrel
That’s the word from former GM Jim Bowden on Friday evening.
#Nats and #Braves are not “in” on Kimbrel according multiple sources.
— Jim Bowden⚾️🏈 (@JimBowdenGM) March 9, 2019
I’m going to soften my prior stance on this topic a bit. I don’t have any further specific information on the subject, but I do have an intuitive thought or two on the subject.
Craig Kimbrel has a limited market right now. There are only perhaps 5 or 6 teams that could reasonably be expected to entertain his services, and they can be broken down as follows:
- Red Sox – can’t due to luxury tax issues
- Nationals – can’t due to luxury tax issues
- Dodgers – not terribly inclined; do not wish to go long-term regardless
- Padres – probably could if they wanted to; no public interest shown
- Braves – can’t fathom that they’d not jump in if the terms were reasonable
- Phillies – reluctant to go for another player after Harper, but gotta think they would be in the same boat as the Braves
So this is a guess, but I’m seeing at least 3 teams that you would reasonably think could get the needle moving if Kimbrel and his agent were interested in putting an end to this drama by accepting a contract (significantly) shorter than he was originally asking for.
To this point, though, there seems to be zero indication that Kimbrel is blinking on his price – even if the point is just to get back onto a ball field.
It’s also of some note that he hasn’t replaced his agent, either, which would suggest that he is entirely on board with the idea of continuing to pursue a hard line of (probably) 4-to-5 years and (probably) $15 million annually or more.
I’m not here to suggest that Kimbrel is or isn’t worth such monies. But I can say that there is obviously little place in the market for such numbers in the current marketplace… especially this year and especially at this time of the year.
Thus, while I still believe wholeheartedly that the Atlanta Braves need to stay engaged in the process, I have to believe that Kimbrel has overplayed his own hand here.
I hate that the best players aren’t necessarily getting the best money, but with the big market clubs maxed out and so many other clubs just going through the motions (i.e., tanking/rebuilding/etc), there simply isn’t enough need out there to demand that teams pony up at his price level.