Rick Hahn Speaks On Craig Kimbrel’s Future With The White Sox

After acquiring Craig Kimbrel from the Chicago Cubs at the trade deadline in 2021, the White Sox bullpen became loaded with back-end talent. Kimbrel, along with Liam Hendriks, Michael Kopech, Ryan Tepera, and Aaron Bummer made up what looked to be, at least on paper, a juggernaut capable of shortening games in the postseason. At least that’s what White Sox general manager Rick Hahn intended on having.

Unfortunately for the White Sox, sometimes the best-laid plans can go awry. Kimbrel, who served as the closer for the Cubs, primarily worked the eighth inning for the Sox after the trade. In the set-up role for closer Liam Hendriks, the version of Craig Kimbrel the White Sox and their fans expected to see just wasn’t there.

At the time of the acquisition, Kimbrel held a 0.49 ERA through 36.2 IP while only giving up a single home run. Things fell apart quickly upon his arrival at 35th/Shields. In 23 innings for the White Sox, Kimbrel gave up five long balls, some of them in extremely ill-timed scenarios. His ERA over that span finished at a not-so-great 5.09.

Trade Rumors

Since the end of the 2021 MLB season, rumors of the White Sox moving on from Craig Kimbrel have swirled. It makes sense as to why. With money already invested in Hendriks as the closer, and plenty of teams interested in top-tier relief pitching, it seemed at the very least Rick Hahn had a valuable trade chip to work with — albeit one that he paid a high price to get. Moving second baseman Nick Madrigal and reliever Codi Heuer in order to acquire Kimbrel’s services defines a win-now move. But it’s one that didn’t pan out for the Sox in 2021.

At one point, the Philadelphia Phillies looked like a potential landing spot for Kimbrel. It appears that ship may have sailed as the Phillies recently signed Corey Knebel to help shore up their back-end needs.