The Chicago White Sox could trade Craig Kimbrel out west this offseason.
The Oakland Athletics are known as the “Moneyball” team. They don’t spend a lot on their payroll but they turn out good teams year in and year out. They do it because they have a good development program along with good decision-making on who they spend their money with. For some reason, they weren’t able to keep their good season going deep into 2021 and failed to make the playoffs.
The A’s lost Liam Hendriks to the White Sox last winter. Since then, they haven’t had a big-time closer. Trevor Rosenthal missed the entire year with an injury which made Lou Trivino the closer. He was good in that role as he had 22 saves and a 3.18 ERA over 73.2 innings pitched. However, if Craig Kimbrel went there and played his best in that role, it would be an upgrade.
Knowing the nature of the A’s organization, the White Sox might need to retain some salary in order to get a deal done. That would be worth it to get some good prospects back in return. Jorge Juan is a right-handed pitcher that is currently the number 21 prospect in their system. Austin Beck, their number 28 prospect, is an outfielder. Both players finished the season in high A.
We don’t know for sure what the White Sox will get from a Kimbrel trade in the offseason but it does sound real that it will happen at some point. There is also a possibility that a team comes out of nowhere to make a deal involving Kimbrel. It will surely be interesting to see what the return will be and how that team handles him once the 2022 season starts.