A.J. Preller Sends Message by Acquiring Craig Kimbrel
- Updated: April 7, 2015
(Photo via Twitter User @Padres)
That maniac in San Diego is at it again, and this time he’s sending a message. Trading for an elite closer is typically something serious World Series contenders do, and by getting Craig Kimbrel, A.J. Preller is telling everyone what he thinks of his reworked Padres roster. The time is now. Whether he is right about that will become clearer now that meaningful baseball is being played again, but what isn’t in question is Kimbrel’s quality. Whereas other recent acquisitions like Matt Kemp have notable flaws, Kimbrel does not. The Braves didn’t offload him because they were concerned about his hips, but because they are in exactly the opposite situation as the Padres. Until their new stadium is finished they appear to be in rebuild and save money mode, and since they probably won’t hold many late leads this season, Kimbrel wouldn’t have much value for them.
Clearly Preller is expecting the Padres to have several late leads this season, and the issue his offensive upgrades has created is related to holding leads, as the outfield defense projects to be below average at best. Solving the offensive problem created the defensive problem. In an attempt to cover that new weakness, Preller has bolstered the pitching staff. Adding James Shields gives the Padres 4 solid starters to anchor the rotation, and now the bullpen is going to be just as solid. The result will hopefully be that Wil Myers and company in the outfield won’t have as many line drives to track down because Kimbrel and company will have just struck everyone out, or at least have prevented solid contact.
Matthew Pouliot at nbcsports.com wrote an article explaining why he believes the Padres don’t need Kimbrel. He points to the fact that the Padres were excellent at holding leads last year, and even without Huston Street, the bullpen was really good. That is true. But pitching in front of a pretty good defense certainly helped the bullpen last year, and a drop in production from relievers and starters should be expected this season. For that the reason the Padres do need Kimbrel, and Shields for that matter, this season. The race for the NL West and for wild card spots is going to be very close, and a guy like Kimbrel could be the difference between a team that finishes in a wild card spot and a team that finishes 2 games out of a playoff spot. And as the Royals, Cardinals, Orioles and Giants showed last season, if you have a good bullpen and make it to the playoffs, anything can happen. Before this trade I expected the Padres to be on the bubble of making a playoff spot and barely missing out. After the trade I’m starting to agree with AJ.
The time is now.
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