After 16 seasons, pitching in 838 games â all in relief â the MLB career of 37-year-old right-hander Craig Kimbrel appears to be over. Kimbrel agreed to a minor league deal with the Atlanta Braves before the season, and pitched 15 games for the Gwinnett Stripers at the Triple-A level until the Braves called him up to the big club on Friday.
One day later, after pitching one inning in a game Friday against the San Francisco Giants, the Braves said goodbye all over again to Kimbrel, designating the future Hall of Famer for assignment.
That means the Braves now have one week to work out a trade for Kimbrel, or offer him a new minor league assignment if they do not release him completely. If he is offered the chance to go back to Gwinnett, Kimbrel as a veteran may choose to accept the deal, or become a free agent. Of course, he can also retire which seems like a real possibility for Kimbrel at this point.
Kimbrel Has the 5th-Most Saves of All Time
At No. 5 on the all-time saves list, Kimbrel appears destined for the Hall of Fame. With 440 career saves, Kimbrel is 19 saves behind Kenley Jansen who is the leader among active pitchers. Jansen, who is also 37, remains not only active but still in the closer’s role with his current team, the Los Angeles Angels.
Kimbrel may believe he has something left. The question is, will there be a team that agrees with him? In 2024, Kimbrel saved 23 games for the Baltimore Orioles, with six blown saves.
But his lone appearance for the Braves was not a save opportunity. Kimbrel came into the game in the seventh inning, allowing a hit and a walk while recording one strikeout over a 14-pitch inning. He was helped by a runner caught stealing and a successful pickoff, however.
Kimbrel’s contract paid him a prorated portion of $2 million for each day he was on the big league roster. By cutting him after just one day, the Braves are on the hook for only about $25,000, including however long he remains in DFA status.
The humbling ending to Kimbrel’s stint with the Braves is made more frustrating by the fact that Atlanta was the team that drafted him in 2008, making him a third-round pick out of Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, Alabama.
DFA of Braves Legend Called ‘Ugly Decision’
Not only that, but to this day Kimbrel holds the Braves’ franchise record in saves with 186, despite not having pitched for Atlanta since 2014, until his one inning on Friday.
Braves fans were not happy that the team cut ties with the team legend as quickly as it did. Fansided Braves writer Nick Halden called the move “embarrassing.”
“It is a deeply unserious move for an organization that has lost its way and continues to pile up awful decisions,” Halden wrote on Saturday. “None are more embarrassing or frustrating than the team’s decision to willfully hold the Atlanta reliever in the minors for weeks, only to designate the veteran for assignment after one game. It was as ugly a decision as the team has made all season.”
The Atlanta bullpen has been the definition of mediocre, ranking 15th of the 30 teams with a 3.90 relief ERA.
After a seven-year string of playoff seasons, including in 2021 the Braves’ second World Series victory since moving to Atlanta from Milwaukee in 1966, the team has floundered all season. Heading into the weekend, they sat at 27-36, in fourth place in the National League East, nine games behind the division leading New York Mets.
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