Just before the trade deadline, the Yankees tried to acquire Craig Kimbrel from the San Diego Padres and were even willing to throw in Jorge Mateo before both sides ultimately couldn’t make the deal. However, the Yankees will now have to face Craig Kimbrel approximately 19 times a year as the Boston Red Sox pulled the trigger and acquired one of the best closers in baseball.
According to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Red Sox and the San Diego Padres pulled off a five-player blockbuster trade, which resulted in the Padres loading up their farm system and the Red Sox getting an elite closer they can control until 2018. Here’s where all the pieces went in the Kimbrel trade:
Red Sox Acquire: closer Craig Kimbrel
Padres Acquire: OF Manuel Margot, LHP Logan Allen, INF Javier Guerra, INF Carlos Asuaje
Now, the Red Sox acquiring Kimbrel affects the Yankees in a few ways. The bullpen was a glaring weak spot and Kimbrel would have bolstered the pen and given Joe Girardi a reliable option to go to in the late innings. But, in the end it’s not a big deal that the Yankees didn’t get Kimbrel. They already have an elite closer in Andrew Miller, and acquiring Kimbrel would have cost the Yankees some of their top prospects, possibly Luis Severino, maybe Gregory Bird or Jorge Mateo.
Brian Cashman’s ‘sitting and waiting’ technique has for the most part worked every offseason, and Cashman might be waiting for other teams to make a move before he makes one of his own. He just has to cross Kimbrel’s name off the ‘trade list’.
