INQUISITR.COM / Sports

Boston Red Sox News: Craig Kimbrel To Undergo Knee Surgery, Miss 3-6 Weeks

By Mark Suleymanov
Published on: 06:58 PST, Jul 9, 2016

Boston Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel will undergo surgery to repair a torn cartilage in his left knee and will miss three to six weeks, according to Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald. Kimbrel underwent an MRI on Friday after he experienced soreness in his knee.

Kimbrel, 28, has not replicated his prior success in Boston after being acquired in a trade with the San Diego Padres in the offseason. In 34 games, the former longtime Atlanta Braves closer has a career-worst 3.55 ERA and 17 saves. However, he has maintained his typically stellar strikeout rate (13.6 K/9) to go with his 4.1 BB/9 rate.

Kimbrel was also named to the American League all-star team this season but will not be unavailable to play.

“Everything that we did early, he was fine,” Red Sox’ manager John Farrell told ESPN about Kimbrel’s knee acting up. “But then he felt something while the running was taking place, unfortunately, during [batting practice] while he was shagging.”

From 2011-2014, Kimbrel was arguably the best closer in baseball. The Huntsville, Alabama, native made four straight National League all-star teams and led the league in saves each of those seasons. He averaged a 1.48 ERA and 46 saves a season during that stretch.

Since being traded from Atlanta prior to the 2015 season, Kimbrel has pitched to a 3.06 ERA and notched 56 saves. According to Fangraphs, Kimbrel’s heater has averaged 97.5 mph this season, up slightly from 97.3 he posted last year in San Diego.

Along with Kimbrel, reliever Junichi Tazawa was unavailable recently due to shoulder soreness. Also, offseason acquisition Carson Smith was recently lost to Tommy John surgery and will miss the rest of this season and some of 2017.

The Red Sox did not wait around to address Kimbrel’s extended absence. Late Friday night, the team acquired Brad Ziegler from the Arizona Diamondbacks, as reported by the Inquisitr. Boston gave up minor leaguers Jose Almonte and Luis Alejandro Basabe.

Ziegler, 36, had been with Arizona since the 2011 season. Mostly utilized as a set-up man, Ziegler move to the closer’s role in 2015, pitching to a 1.85 ERA and notching 30 saves for the D’Backs.

“I have been with Arizona for a long time. It’s going to be tough to go. It’s going to be tough on me and my family,” Ziegler said after learning of the trade on Friday night (via Arizona Sports). “From a baseball standpoint you have a team that is a couple of games out of first and I think that’s why they pulled the trigger.”

However, Kimbrel’s injury did not influence the deal.

This season, Ziegler has pitched to a 2.82 ERA in 38-and-one-third innings while saving 18 games. Boston’s pursuit of the sidearmer had more to do with acquiring a different type of reliever than anything else, per FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. Koji Uehara, who saved the game on Friday, will split the closing duties with Ziegler in Kimbrel’s absence, per Scott Lauber of ESPN.

This trade marks the third significant move of the week for the Red Sox. The team acquired infielder Aaron Hill from the Milwaukee Brewers for a pair of minor leaguers. Also, Boston acquired the versatile Michael Martinez — who was designated for assignment by the Cleveland Indians.

Team president Dave Dombrowski has been active on the trade front this week and with the Red Sox’ rotation reeling, a trade for a starter is possible.

We’ve been trying. It’s just, they were ready to do it today,” Dombrowski said to WEEI. “We have had more conversations about pitching, but again, I’m not sure that means we’re any closer to making a deal or not.”

[Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images]

Share this article: Boston Red Sox News: Craig Kimbrel To Undergo Knee Surgery, Miss 3-6 Weeks
mlb Boston Red Sox
More from Inquisitr