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In 2021 the Chicago Cubs will once again look to hand the ball to Craig Kimbrel in the ninth inning which begs the question: ‘Can he still close?’
Kimbrel will be heading into his age-33 season and has been in decline since his age-29 campaign way in 2017. That being said, some recent projections shouldn’t be cause for celebration for the Wrigley Field faithful.
Baseball Reference projects Kimbrel to sport a 4.50 ERA, 1.5 HR/9, 4.3 BB/9 and 10.9 K/9. These are not the statistics of even a good reliever, let alone an elite late-inning arm.