Boston Red Sox Rumors: Craig Kimbrel now the last closer standing

With Adam Ottavino now a Yankee, the Boston Red Sox have few remaining free agent closers to chose from. Is a reunion with Craig Kimbrel suddenly inevitable?

And then there was one.  Well, okay, Craig Kimbrel is not the only closer left on the free agent market. But he is probably the only one that would seem clearly better than the Boston Red Sox own in-house options, such as Matt Barnes and Ryan Brasier.

However, Dave Dombrowski insists that the team is comfortable with the current collection of suspects, including Barnes, Brasier, Tyler Thornburg and… Steven Wright? And Dombrowski has previously stated he does not intend to spend major dollars on a closer this season.

"“I do know we have the ability to close with the people we have on our team,” Dombrowski said. “We’ll see if we get to that point or not.”"

Still, for a team expected to contend for another World Series title, the uncertainty surrounding the endgame is a little worrisome.

Or is it?

First, the role of “closer” seems to be evolving, or perhaps devolving, reverting to the “fireman” role of an earlier era. More managers seem amenable to bringing in the team’s “best reliever” to get the most important outs of the ballgame, whether those are in the seventh, eighth or the ninth inning. Think about how Oakland deployed Blake Treinen or Milwaukee used Josh Hader last season.

And remember, one of the reasons the Boston Red Sox hired Alex Cora to replace John Farrell was his strong embrace of analytics. Cora was, of course, the Astros’ bench coach when they won the 2017 World Series and discovered the value of having shutdown relief options outside the ninth inning (Chris Devenski, Brad Peacock etc).

Second, one need only look back at last year’s playoff teams to see how early season uncertainty over the last three outs did nothing to derail their fortunes. Treinen entered 2018 a failed closer in Washington. The Dodgers’ Kenley Jansen scuffled mightily in April before finding his dominant form. And Cleveland (Brad Hand), Houston (Roberto Osuna), Atlanta (AJ Minter) and Milwaukee (Jeremy Jeffries) all ended the season with different players saving games than they began it.

So maybe a reunion with Kimbrel is not such a foregone conclusion, at least not at Kimbrel’s rumored asking price.