A former Boston Red Sox star is coming back to the American League East.
On Tuesday, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported that nine-time All-Star Craig Kimbrel is coming back to the American League East as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays on a major league deal.
"Rays in agreement with reliever Craig Kimbrel on major-league deal, source tells The Athletic," Rosenthal wrote. "Became free agent when he refused minor-league assignment with Mets."
Kimbrel had a 6.00 ERA in 14 appearances with the New York Mets before the two sides went in different directions. Kimbrel's 6.00 ERA sounds bad, but he was better than those numbers would suggest. He pitched in 14 games for the Mets and 10 of those outings were scoreless. When he gave up a run, though, he was bad. He had three different outings in which he gave up two runs or more. That skews his overall numbers.
If there is a team that can get the most out of the potential future Hall of Famer, it would be the Rays. Tampa Bay has shown over and over again in recent memory that it knows what it's doing in the pitching department. Now, it's getting a nine-time All-Star.