Slowly but surely, players have begun to sign or be traded to new teams in what has already been an eventful offseason despite being just over a month into it.
With the Nationals' signing of Patrick Corbin to a 6-year deal yesterday, one of the major free agents is off the market. In addition to Dallas Keuchel, Craig Kimbrel is one of the top pitchers remaining up for grabs, certainly the best relief pitcher after Edwin Diaz was traded to the Mets.
By his standards, 2018 was a down year for 7-time All-Star closer, Craig Kimbrel. Granted, his 2.74 ERA was nothing to sneeze at, but when compared to his 1.43 ERA in 2018, it highlights his slight dip in performance.
He still managed 96 strikeouts and 42 saves, but the rise of the previously mentioned Edwin Diaz caused Kimbrel to be outshined.
According to MLB, he's seeking a 6-year deal, keeping the 2011 NL Rookie of the Year under contract until the end of his age 37-season. Given how inconsistent relief pitchers can be, the length of the contract is very unlikely to happen.
If anything, I could see him coming back to Boston on a 1-year deal similar to what Mike Moustakas did last year with a salary similar to that of the qualifying offer of $17.9 million. Or, he could shock us all and get the 6-year deal he's asking for from some team ready to make a World Series push.
Even if he goes elsewhere, Kimbrel's 3 seasons in Boston were what helped him become one of my favorite players, and his 2017 season in which he struck out nearly 50% of the batters he faced was nothing short of legendary.
It's a big reason why I began to collect him more seriously given that his player collection is currently at 117 cards. Out of all the options, I chose 5 that I thought were above all the rest.
#5 2013 Topps Chrome 1972 Design
I would much rather have seen a 45-year anniversary set for 1972 Topps in 2017 instead of the monstrosity of wood-border '87 cards that we got, but I'll settle for 2013 instead which commemorated the set in Topps Archives, Flagship with minis, and an insert set in Topps Chrome which is where the Kimbrel card comes in.
The red border works incredibly well with the crisp looking Atlanta Braves home uniform, and I must say that '72 Topps looks way better on chrome cardstock than I would've thought. It makes me super excited for 2021 Topps Heritage when we'll finally get to see my favorite set of all-time in a 500-card checklist.
#4 2015 Topps Heritage Chrome Purple Refractor
While I'm on the topic of Heritage, one of my favorite parts of the brand year after year is the Heritage Chrome cards, though they've seemingly become increasingly rare over the last couple of years. From the base chrome to refractors and the purple refractors above, it's always fun to pull one of these out of Heritage retail or hobby packs, and it's especially thrilling to hit a purple refractor hot box like I did out of 2018 Topps Heritage back in March.
#3 2016 Topps Museum
If Topps wants to come close to creating a Topps Flagship set as exciting as 2015 Topps, they're gonna have to experiment and find an excellent design that incorporates black borders. Though it will prove challenging, it's something that collectors have been asking for; an upgraded 2007 Topps, so to speak.
Kimbrel's 2016 Topps Museum card highlights all the things I love about the product aside from the fact that many of the cards were miss-cut. Black and silver is a classic combination that has never truly failed to work. All Topps has to do is create a modern set with those 2 colors and given that it's the job of multitudes of people, someone should be able to figure it out.
#2 2013 Topps Heritage Retail Red Parallel
If Topps was still rolling out these retail-exclusive red parallels 3 years later when Kimbrel was on the Red Sox, one of those cards would undoubtedly make it to the #1 spot on the list. The possible combination of the red border with an alternate home Red Sox jersey is too good to ignore.
With that being said, I also can't ignore how fantastic the red borders of the 2013 Topps Heritage set look. As one of the many cards I picked up from The National, I was able to discover a new parallel that I had never known existed beforehand. To do that and add to the Kimbrel Collection is a win-win for sure.
#1 2018 Topps 1983 Design Black Parallel
Like I said before, Topps is missing out on major opportunities by not producing a Flagship set with black borders. The color of the border helps to enhance this insert from 2018 Topps Series 1 more than nearly any other color, not to mention how good of a job Topps did with recreating the iconic '83 set.
The chosen image is yet another detail of this card that was executed well. Though I wouldn't initially think of choosing an image with the red jersey, showing Kimbrel jogging from the bullpen, I quickly realized how well it works with the rest of the card.
Somewhere in the world, there are 10 of these cards with red borders, obviously making them quite rare. I can only imagine how fantastic this card would look with a red border along with the red uniform and 1983 Topps design. Someday, I hope to track one of those down.
That'll be step #1. Step #2 will be being willing to pay the price that the card ends up costing.
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