The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired eight-time All-Star reliever Craig Kimbrel from the Chicago White Sox on Friday in exchange for outfielder AJ Pollock.
Kimbrel was 4-5 with 24 saves in a combined 63 games with the Chicago Cubs and White Sox last season. The Cubs shipped him across town at midseason in exchange for Codi Heaur and Nick Madrigal. Kimbrel was 2-2 with the White Sox with one save in 24 games.
Kimbrel rediscovered the form that made him one of the game’s best closers and was named to his eighth All-Star team last season.
The 33-year-old right-hander was the NL Rookie of the Year in 2011. He led the league in saves from 2011 to 2014. Kimbrel ranks ninth all-time in the majors with 372 saves as he begins his 13th season.
Kimbrel fulfills the Dodgers’ need for a shutdown option late in games, especially with the departure of 10-year closer Kenley Jansen, who signed a one-year deal with the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves.
“It’s been in Ohio as early as the mid-1850s at least, brought in as an ornamental plant because of its unique foliage and white flowers,” Gardner said. “It was actually planted in people’s landscaping, and it has been spreading.”
Pollock hit .282 with 65 home runs and 199 RBIs in three seasons with the Dodgers. The 34-year-old outfielder’s best season came last year, when he batted. .297 with 21 homers and 69 RBIs in 117 games.
Meanwhile, the White Sox agreed to terms on a $7.45 million, one-year deal with right-hander Lucas Giolito to avoid arbitration.
He was 11-9 with a 3.53 ERA and 201 strikeouts in 31 starts last season, his fifth in Chicago.