It all started with an injury. The next time you see new Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel’s strange setup on the mound — crouched like a jungle cat, with his supercharged right arm dangling far off to his side — know that he first employed it years ago because biceps tendinitis made it too painful to hold the ball behind his back in more traditional fashion.
And know that it has nothing to do with biceps tendinitis anymore.
“Now it’s just something that I do,” he said Friday at Wrigley Field at an introductory press conference before the opening game of a series against the Cardinals. “I like to think of it as the way I walk in, the way that I separate from where I am usually as a happy, fun, love-everybody guy to turning into what I want to [be] on the mound.”
How about that? We’re learning things about the guy already.
We’ll learn all the important stuff down the road, of course. Will the seven-time All-Star, at 31, regain his typically elite form after spending the first two-plus months of the season as a free agent? Will the youngest player to reach 300 career saves, which he did last season with the World Series-bound Red Sox, take his fourth major league team from good to great? Will the Cubs someday look back on a three-year, $43 million deal with Kimbrel, which includes a vesting option for 2022, as a steal?
“We were able to go out and get that individual I think could help us maybe more than anyone else in baseball, given the makeup of this team and the aspirations that we have,” president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said.
The World Series hunt is on in full for these Cubs, or will be, at least, once Kimbrel is up to speed. First, he’ll spend an undetermined length of time in Arizona for what Epstein called a “condensed spring training of sorts.” He’ll throw bullpen sessions and face live hitters until all parties believe he’s ready for a rehab assignment that likely will take place at Class AAA Iowa.
“We’re not going to rush it,” Epstein said. “It’s going to be tempting to get him here as soon as possible, but we’re trying to plan this thing the right way so that he can be in a position to succeed not just immediately, but all the way through October.”
Kimbrel’s 2018 postseason ended in championship glory, but he struggled with a 5.91 ERA in nine appearances covering 10 2/3 innings. Perhaps some extended time off has done his body good, though the burly Kimbrel worked out so hard while waiting to find a new team that he worried he was “becoming a football player, in a sense.”
Last weekend in Florida, former Cubs catcher David Ross (who caught Kimbrel’s first big-league pitch, in 2010 with the Braves) and scout Joe Nelson watched Kimbrel throw and reported to Epstein that he appeared to be in midseason form, sealing the Cubs’ interest.
“My expectations are to show up and do my job the best that I can do it, like I expect myself to do it, and help this team make it to the playoffs, make it through the playoffs and win the World Series,” Kimbrel said. “And not just this year, but years moving forward.”
What are some other things we know about Kimbrel, who will wear No. 24?
His personal catcher for much of the last few months is an Orlando-area high school player.
He threw a lot in into a net in the barn at his home, too, with a playwood cutout of a batter in the box.
He made ex-Braves teammate Jason Heyward’s day with a text confirming his desire to play for the Cubs, writing, “All I need to know is where I should live and what number I’m going to wear.”
And he choked up Friday as he publicly thanked wife Ashley, daughter Lydia Joy and other family and friends for their help and support over months of uncertainty about the direction his career would head in next.
“I’m glad I made it through this process,” he said. “It was tough.”
