Red Sox Aquire P Craig Kimbrell

​On Friday evening the Boston Red Sox Acquired four time all-star closer Craig Kimbrel from the San Diego Padres. In return the Sox sent four prospects including center fielder Manuel Margot. While they paid a high price for Kimbrel, I believe its is a good move for the team. Kimbrel is one of, if not the, best closer in the game right now and this move shows that the Red Sox are all in on winning this year. This gives the sox a pretty strong 8th 9th set up of Koji Uheara and Kimbrel. Another reason to like this deal is that Kimbrel is under team control until 2017 with a team option in 2018, while the other top closer available on the trade market, Aroldis Chapman, is only under contract for this year. This likely means that the Red Sox will go out and get a front line starter in free agency and my guess is that they will go all out on either David Price or Zach Greinke and I would be extremely happy with either one. Regardless of who Dave Dombrowski decides to go after as free agent, this move signals to the rest of the AL east that Boston is planning to contend, and are willing to pull out all the stops to do it.
​While Kimbrel is truly a top closer in the game the team did give up a lot to get him. Margot and SS Javier Guerra are the two main pieces going to the Padres, both of whom ranked in the top 10 of Red Sox prospects according to soxprospects.com with Margot coming in at number 4 and Guerra coming in at number 6. The other two pieces going to San Diego are 18-year-old pitcher Logan Allen, the teams 13th best prospect and second baseman Carlos Asuaje, both who are far away from being Major League ready. This is an extremely steep price but not one that should have a major impact on the Red Sox in the future. In Addition to Allen and Asuaje being far off Margot and Guerra are blocked from being able to contribute on a Major league level for the foreseeable future by rising stars in Mookie Betts (CF) and Xander Bogaerts (SS). The team was also able to hold on to its true top prospects in Yoan Moncada, Rafael Devers, Anderson Espinoza, and Andrew Benintendi. Trading unknown talents that didn’t have a spot on Major League club for an established all-star closer is a move I will endorse 100% of the time.
​Next up for the Sox is to go out and get a front line starter to bolster the starting rotation. Hey David Price your Fenway frank is on me.