Dodgers moving forward without closer after demoting Craig Kimbrel

By Rowan KavnerFOX Sports MLB Writer

LOS ANGELES — All year, questions about the ninth inning have loomed in Los Angeles.

Now, Major League Baseball’s active saves leader will no longer be closing games for the Dodgers.

In the midst of a bumpy season, Craig Kimbrel tried various tricks to get back on track. He changed his walk-out music. He chopped his beard. Then the eight-time All-Star enjoyed a late-August rally, but it didn’t last. 

On Friday, manager Dave Roberts spoke to Kimbrel about a decision that was months in the making. 

“Right now, the plan is to change roles and just kind of get him in a position to pitch in different innings and different situations,” Roberts said. “He was very open to doing whatever was best for the ballclub. I feel good about it. We’ll see where that’ll take us.”

Kimbrel is 6-6 with a 4.14 ERA and 1.34 WHIP this season. The six losses tied a career high. He has allowed runs in 20 games this year, the most in any season of his career. His struggles haven’t doomed the Dodgers, who remain on pace to set a franchise record for wins, but they brought into question Kimbrel’s dubious role in October as the postseason approaches. On Thursday, he walked a batter, hit his career-high fifth batter of the season and allowed a run for the second straight game. 

The closer change is being made with 12 regular-season games remaining.

“He more looks at it as a challenge, and that’s the way we would expect,” Roberts said. “It speaks a lot to him as a teammate.”

For a few weeks, Kimbrel appeared to find a rhythm. 

On Aug. 21, Dodgers players had their significant others choose their walk-out music in honor of Women’s Day at Dodger Stadium. Kimbrel entered the ninth inning to “Let It Go” from the movie “Frozen,” a dramatic departure from the hard-rock melody of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses. 

The switch seemed to work. He threw his first clean inning of the month, snapping a streak of 13 straight outings allowing at least one baserunner. The song stayed, even earning a graphic on the DodgerVision boards at the stadium, and the success continued. 

Kimbrel went nine straight outings without allowing a run, lowering his ERA from 4.46 to 3.73 in the process. Then the Diamondbacks tagged him for three runs (two earned) on Sept. 14 as his velocity and command began to wane. 

Now, nine days later, the Dodgers are turning to a ninth-inning committee for the foreseeable future, a decision that could last into October.

“It might not be traditional,” Roberts said, “but I’m not too concerned about that.”

Nine other Dodgers pitchers have recorded at least one save this season. Four of them are currently on the active roster. 

Daniel Hudson, who ranks second on the team with five saves, is out for the year due to an ACL tear. Brusdar Graterol, Chris Martin and Evan Phillips are the others with multiple saves this year, though the Dodgers could keep Phillips in his “fireman” role, saving him for high-leverage spots prior to the ninth inning. Caleb Ferguson and Tommy Kahnle provide more closing options. 

When the Dodgers traded outfielder AJ Pollock to the White Sox in exchange for Kimbrel at the beginning of April, they envisioned the eight-time All-Star closer as a replacement for the franchise’s all-time saves leader, Kenley Jansen. The move also helped the Dodgers’ books beyond this year. Kimbrel is in the final season of a three-year deal, while Pollock has a player option next year.

Neither team has benefited from the deal. Pollock, after back-to-back seasons in Los Angeles with an OPS+ over 130, sports a .680 OPS and 91 OPS+ in 129 games in Chicago this year. 

Kimbrel was coming off a roller-coaster season spent between the Cubs and White Sox. With the former, he recorded 23 saves and a 0.49 ERA, bouncing back from down years in 2019 (6.53 ERA) and 2020 (5.28) to become an All-Star again. Then he went to the Sox and served primarily in a setup role while struggling to a 5.09 ERA. 

Between the two stops, Kimbrel’s strikeout percentage (42.6%) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.35) were his best marks since his All-Star 2017 season in Boston, when he finished sixth in Cy Young Award voting. 

His tenure with the Dodgers has more closely resembled his second half of 2021 than his first. He is posting the lowest strikeout rate of his career (27.2%) and has converted 22 of 27 save chances this season. 

Whether Kimbrel can do enough in the final two weeks of the season to carve out a role in October is yet to be determined. For now, Roberts is focused on finding “the best lanes” for Kimbrel, who threw a scoreless sixth inning Friday in the Dodgers’ 11-0 defeat to the Cardinals.

“Nothing is cemented,” Roberts said, “but I think that’s the best way to go about it right now.”

Rowan Kavner covers the Dodgers and NL West for FOX Sports. He previously was the Dodgers’ editor of digital and print publications. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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