According to Jon Heyman, the Mets will call up Craig Kimbrel before today’s game against the Athletics. Kimbrel, a 16-year veteran who was an All-Star with the Braves, Phillies, Cubs, and Red Sox, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in January. Kimbrel is currently fifth all time with 440 career saves, just ahead of former Mets Francisco Rodriguez (437), John Franco (424), and Billy Wagner (422).
In six spring training appearances with the Mets, Kimbrel struck out five, walked five, and put up
a 4.50 ERA. Kimbrel made one appearance with Single-A St. Lucie this past week, throwing a scoreless, hitless, walkless, strikeout-less inning.
While Kimbrel has a storied career as one of the greatest relievers of the 21st century, no one is expecing that Kimbrel to be who the Mets get. But with both Richard Lovelady and Luis Garcia struggling mightily as of late, it is not surprising that the Mets would begin the fabled bullpen churn.
Here is how our Grace Carbone described Kimbrel in his 2026 Season Preview:
Over the course his career, Kimbrel has logged a 2.58 ERA in 821.2 innings, with 1,282 strikeouts and a 1.020 WHIP. He has 440 saves, which is the fifth most all-time, and a career 159 ERA+ that’s well above average for a reliever. He’s accumulated 22.7 bWAR in his career, on par with other top closers of his era like Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman.
A lot of that accumulation and excellence came earlier in his career, however, and Kimbrel has turned into a solid relief option instead of a feared closer. His first nine seasons in the major leagues produced some really tremendous work. He had a 1.80 ERA in 470.1 innings with 772 strikeouts, 291 saves, a 0.910 WHIP, and a 222 ERA+. In those nine seasons, he was worth 17.7 bWAR, won Rookie of the Year in 2011 with the Braves, made nine All-Star teams, finished top ten in Cy Young Award voting five times, and even received MVP votes from 2011 to 2013.
Since 2019, when he signed with the Cubs, he has put up a 3.83 ERA in 289 innings and earned just 107 of his career saves, less than a quarter of career total. He has just 414 strikeouts in that time with a 1.204 WHIP and a 110 ERA+, far below his usual dominance. He accumulated just 2.9 of his career WAR during that time as well.
Last year, he was somewhat effective in a limited role. In 12.0 innings with two different teams—the lion’s share being with the Astros—he had a 2.25 ERA with 17 strikeouts and a 1.417 WHIP. He didn’t get any saves, but he had a 197 ERA+ and accumulated 0.4 bWAR in such limited time. He might not have been a star closer, but in an admittedly extremely small sample, he was a good late inning relief option for the Astros down the stretch.
A corresponding move has not yet been announced.
