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ST. LOUIS – Even though Craig Kimbrel was at the Cubs counter this weekend in St. Louis, the result would probably have been the same.
The Cubs were not swept away from Busch Stadium because of the debacle of the pens. In fact, they did not even hold the lead after the third inning at any of the three games.
Maybe Kimbrel could have gotten Friday night's game in the 11th inning with his incredible ability to miss the bat, but otherwise it would not have much changed the equation.
Which is to say that Kimbrel is not a kind of savior for this team of Cubs, even if the reception of Theo Epstein had signed and brought closer the elite earlier this week, now that there is more penalty for the choice of the player or for the 31 right handed aged 12:01 Monday morning.
Kimbrel can not help stopping the sequence of a week when the Cubs' offense did not push a rider to score. Nor would it help, as if by magic, to heal all the corrector's woes, even if his mere presence would surely help.
The fact is, we are still talking about a guy who could run 45 to 50 innings at most this season, even in the best of times. And although the Cubs would be one of the teams present at Kimbrel, they will be far from the only candidate for his services as the spring ends.
Joe Maddon said that prior to Sunday's game, he had not participated in any discussions with Epstein or General Manager Jed Hoyer, nor with any other Cubs official about Kimbrel. But this is not a situation in which a manager should be too involved – which skipper would not want to add a caliber closer to Kimbrel's caliber to his list now?
Instead, Maddon just focuses on who he has on the list, which is all he can do.
"For the moment, the Christmas present will be very soon Pedro Strop," said Maddon about the Cubs' veteran reliever, who organized another rehab outing Sunday in Triple-A Iowa and will likely join the bullpen at the start of the season. week in Chicago. "The moment we pick up Stroppy, it's lengthening the complete pen again.
"Drop it, dude, I'm not worried about that kind of thing I like the band we have when Pedro comes back – [Steve] Cishek fulfills a different role, they all become one in a positive way. You can just get thicker in the bullpen. Once Pedro has arrived, I think you will see a difference with that. And then, with regard to free agents or something else, it's not up to me to decide. It's at the front office. "
Now, all it costs to sign Kimbrel is money, which is a major issue for this Cubs team since early November. Once the Cubs opted for Cole Hamels' $ 20 million option, the budget became a priority and the Epstein office had to be creative to complete a list that had won 95 matches last season but could not even qualify for the Wild-Card Game of the National League. .
So, even if the Cubs would no longer have to give up a preliminary choice or an amateur expense, will they have enough funds to offer a contract that Kimbrel is looking for?
This remains to be seen, but the Cubs have always set aside money for seasonal changes, planning to add payroll to meet the most important needs of the team (for example, taking charge of a part of the contracts of Cole Hamels, Daniel Murphy and Brandon Kintzler) July August).
From the fans' point of view, it's easy to understand why Kimbrel is getting all the attention.
The freefall attack may be the focus of the moment, but it will eventually disappear (maybe even soon). However, the scenario is different: it was the obvious weakness of the team in winter and more than a third of the road traveled this season. It is always the obvious weakness of a team that spent most of May in first place.
Nowadays, everyone wants to make comparisons with any team of Cubs to the 2016 team, which is natural. The potential of this 2019 team to get Kimbrel is at least as high as that of Aroldis Chapman in 2016.
Three seasons ago, Epstein & Co. felt like a dominant closer to a true competitor of the World Series and they were right. But you could argue that the 2019 Cubs need a younger back-end, even more than their 2016 team.
Remember, before the Cubs traded against Chapman in July 2016, they already had a stable that had a fantastic season – Hector Rondon had 18 chances out of 22 with chances to win with an ERA of 1.95 and 0.73 WHIP before Chapman joins the club.
That's not to say that Chapman was not an improvement over Rondon, but at the time, the Cubs' paddock was already solid and they simply strengthened and strengthened it, especially with an arm that looked better in October.
But this 2019 team does not even have greater stability (this is not the case since Brandon Morrow was on the list of injured last July) and the market is not a strength of this team. In fact, the rescue corps actually retained this team.
The Cubs missed 50% of their first chances of saving (11 of 22) and placed second in the Major League Baseball among the rescuers knocked down in June (behind only the Mets, with 12 saves discarded).
Kimbrel could not only be an asset to help this team come in October, but it could also be a boon for the last few months of the regular season, catering to the Cubs' greatest need.
It's huge in a central NL where the five teams wake up Monday morning at 6.5 first place games (each baseball division has at least one team of more than 10 games).
No arm that should be available this summer can withstand the impact that Kimbrel can have. He is arguably the closest to the game now and he is clearly the closest closest available at the moment. That's not to say that there is some kind of guarantee that it will be off for the second half of the MLB's 2019 season, but the ceiling and potential are undeniable.
In addition, Kimbrel's impact on Cubs is not limited to one round per night. If Maddon is to turn to Kimbrel for the ninth inning, it means that Strop and Cishek and Brad Brach and Brandon Kintzler are available for the seventh and eighth innings. And that leaves Carl Edwards Jr. as a potential sixth-round option and then left-handed Kyle Ryan can be unveiled whenever the Cubs need him, as well as long succession options in Mike Montgomery and Tyler Chatwood.
Suddenly, this pen no longer looks scary even for the most pessimistic fan. And this does not include any contributions from Brandon Morrow, whose short-term future is unknown after suffering a setback in late April in his convalescence after an arm injury.
Kimbrel still wants a multi-year deal, according to reports, but even that's not so scary for the Cubs. Whatever it is, they will have to almost completely rebuild their paddock this winter and lock Kimbrel now for 2020 (and beyond?) Would only help to wipe out an item from the winter checklist, although this also reduces the flexibility of the organization's payroll. (Chatwood, Edwards and Montgomery are the only cubs currently under contract for next season, although the Cubs have team options on Brach and Tony Barnette.)
However, even the dream scenario for Cubs fans (who signed Kimbrel earlier this week) should not be immediately available. He would not be available immediately. He has not played a competitive game since the World Series last October and would need to simulate some kind of abbreviated spring training in the minor leagues of the team with which he signs.
How long will it take for Kimbrel to be in tune and reach the major league stage? Even the most optimistic scenario would put the delay about three weeks to a minimum. So we may not see him in the major leagues before the beginning of July, even if he signs somewhere on Monday.
So no, Kimbrel would not play a role of "savior" for the 2019 Cubs on his own. But if the money is fair and the commercial department gives Epstein the green light to add this type of contract to the payroll , signing the nearest would be an easy upgrade for a World Series aspiring team.
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