Royals Sign Craig Kimbrel

The Royals have signed veteran right-hander Craig Kimbrel to a Major League contract, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports.  Kimbrel is represented by SportsMeter.

Once Kimbrel appears in a game, Kansas City will become the 12th team the reliever has officially played with during his 17 MLB seasons.  The Royals will be the third team on the list just this year, as Kimbrel has a 4.81 ERA over 33 2/3 combined innings with the Mets and Rays.  After signing a minor league deal with New York this winter, Kimbrel’s contract was selected in April but he was then designated for assignment in May.  He elected free agency over an outright assignment and quickly caught on with Tampa, but the DFA/outright/free agency cycle repeated itself when Kimbrel was designated last weekend.

Kimbrel was an All-Star as recently as 2023, but he has a 4.78 ERA over 98 innings since Opening Day 2024.  That includes a 4.81 ERA in his 33 2/3 frames this year, and the righty also has an 11.1% walk rate and 22.2% strikeout rate over his time with the Rays and Mets.  That K% is on pace to be easily the lowest mark of Kimbrel’s 17 seasons.

Selecting Kimbrel’s contract locked in a $2.5MM salary for the 2026 season that is still mostly the Mets’ responsibility.  The Rays and now the Royals have paid only a prorated portion of a MLB minimum salary for Kimbrel’s time in the big leagues.

From Kansas City’s perspective, there’s little cost in seeing if the 38-year-old can harness any of his old magic.  K.C. has one of baseball’s worst bullpens, and there isn’t much to lose bringing Kimbrel in to cover some innings or get some leverage work.  Kimbrel has 440 career saves, the fifth-highest total in big league history.