Phillies Finalize One-Year, $10 Million Deal With Reliever Craig Kimbrel

Craig Kimbrel has passed his physical and finalized a one-year, $10 million contract with the Phillies, bringing the active saves leader to Philadelphia's bullpen. What role the 34-year-old right-hander will fill is not yet clear.

The signing is likely the final major roster move of the offseason for Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies' president of baseball operations. It reunites Dombrowski with Kimbrel, who saved 108 games over three seasons and won the 2018 World Series with the Boston Red Sox in a club run by Dombrowski.

The contract makes Kimbrel the highest-paid reliever on the Phillies' roster. Its terms match those of Corey Knebel's deal from last year. Knebel was given the closer job by then-manager Joe Girardi, but the Phillies may not make a similar designation this time. Manager Rob Thomson has generally avoided naming a closer.

Thomson took the struggling Knebel out of the ninth-inning role in mid-June and did not name a replacement. The Phillies went 65-46 in the 111 regular-season games under Thomson, and 10 different relievers recorded at least one save. One of them was Zach Eflin, a converted starter, who earned the save in the playoff-clinching win on Oct. 3 in Houston.

Instead of assigning relievers to fixed innings, Thomson picked his late-inning arms by matchup. Depending on the opponent and the situation, he might use Seranthony Domínguez in the eighth rather than the ninth, José Alvarado in the seventh rather than the eighth, or David Robertson in the ninth rather than the seventh. The bullpen worked well under that approach.

Indications are that Thomson wants to keep that flexibility, though a strong showing by Kimbrel could change the plan. Unlike many closers, Kimbrel was developed as a reliever from his first year in the minor leagues and was never converted from starting. He has 394 career saves, seventh on the all-time list, and has finished 80% of the 709 games in which he has pitched.

His recent results have been mixed. Kimbrel was dominant as the Chicago Cubs' closer in 2021, with a 0.49 ERA and 23 saves, before a trade across town to the White Sox. There he struggled in a setup role for the first time in his career, posting a 5.09 ERA in 24 appearances. Last year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he finished with a 3.75 ERA and 22 saves, but he lost the closer job in September and was left off the Dodgers' roster for the Division Series.

Whatever his title, Kimbrel will work late in games in a bullpen that also includes Domínguez, Alvarado, Connor Brogdon, newly acquired left-hander Matt Strahm and Andrew Bellatti. The last two spots will be decided in a spring-training competition involving Sam Coonrod and other internal candidates.

To clear space on the 40-man roster, the Phillies designated former prospect Francisco Morales for assignment. Morales had been considered part of that competition. If no team claims him on waivers, he could be outrighted to triple A and invited to major-league camp.

Kimbrel's contract raises the Phillies' payroll to roughly $248.8 million for competitive balance tax purposes. Barring changes, the club would finish above the first tax threshold of $233 million for a second straight year, which would raise its surcharge from 20% to 30%. It would still sit just under the second threshold of $253 million, which carries a steeper penalty.