Baltimore Orioles' Stunning Craig Kimbrel Decision Was Long Overdue

The Baltimore Orioles have finally moved on from Craig Kimbrel after his latest implosion.

Aug 11, 2024; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Baltimore Orioles pitcher Craig Kimbrel looks down while walking off the mound. / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Numerous discouraging trends have emerged for the Baltimore Orioles during the second half as numerous players have suffered notable performance drop-offs. Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Albert Suarez and others have all faded after promising starts, allowing the New York Yankees to bypass the Orioles in the AL East.

Nobody's endured a steeper decline than Craig Kimbrel, however, who's fallen off a cliff over the last few months. It's been night and day for the 36-year-old reliever, who went from an All-Star-caliber closer in the first half to an absolute catastrophe in the second half.

On Wednesday, Baltimore finally made the move many of its fans have been clamoring for. The Orioles announced that they had designated Kimbrel for assignment and recalled Bryan Baker from Triple-A Norfolk to take his place on the 40-man roster.

We have made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/01oGelj2Ty

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 18, 2024

This move has been a long time coming, as Kimbrel has been ineffective for months.

The line of demarcation was July 14, the final day before the All-Star Break. Prior to that, Kimbrel was 5-2 with 23 saves, a 2.10 ERA, a 2.47 FIP and 52 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings. After a brief rough patch in late April and early May, he'd been lights-out for two months.

In other words, he was the old Kimbrel.

Since then, however, he'd been a complete disaster. Kimbrel blew a save that day against the Yankees, allowing three runs in the top of the ninth before Baltimore bailed him out with a walk-off win.

His struggles continued after the All-Star Break, and he eventually lost his closing job to Seranthony Dominguez, who was acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies at the MLB Trade Deadline.

Despite being moved to lower-leverage situations and getting more rest, the nine-time All-Star continued to flounder.

The final straw came on Tuesday against the San Francisco Giants, when he was shelled for a career-high six runs in the final inning of an ugly 10-0 loss.

By comparison, that's as many earned runs as Kimbrel allowed during 29 appearances combined from April 5 to June 15.

Kimbrel had allowed at least one run in four of his last five appearances, causing his ERA to balloon to a career-worst 5.33 -- more than double his lifetime 2.59 mark. In 18 innings since July 14, he posted a horrific 11.50 ERA and was battered for a .303/.427/.579 batting line.

Not only was he getting hit hard, but his control had also abandoned him. He averaged nearly a walk per inning during that span and surrendered five home runs.

Following Tuesday's collapse, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde essentially admitted he had nowhere to use Kimbrel anymore.

Brandon Hyde on Craig Kimbrel:

"I had a tough time trying to find a spot for him on the roadtrip. He didn’t pitch for a week. ... There was some fatigue at the end, the velo started getting down. Normally, he’s not out there that long. That wasn’t his normal stuff at the end."

— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) September 18, 2024

Kimbrel, who hadn't earned a save since July 7, is clearly toast and could no longer be trusted, especially with the playoffs around the corner. He's been worth -1.1 WAR this year and has shown no signs of turning things around. He should have been benched weeks ago and received plenty of chances to get himself back on track, but just couldn't do it.

After 15 seasons, Kimbrel may have thrown his last pitch in the Big Leagues. It's hard to imagine another team rolling the dice on him given his age and horrendous second half, so he may be forced to retire.

Regardless of where Kimbrel ends up, he won't be missed in Baltimore.