Red Sox 3-Time All-Star Targets Return To Closer Role
Boston Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman has vested his $13 million option for 2027 by reaching 40 innings pitched, providing crucial stability to the team's bullpen during their playoff surge. Chapman's consistent performance ensures his future in Boston. In contrast, former Red Sox star closer Craig Kimbrel, despite a late-career journey spanning 14 teams, remains fiercely determined to return to save situations. Kimbrel, who enjoyed a dominant three-year stint with Boston, including a World Series championship, aims to prove he can still perform at an elite level. With 440 career saves, fifth-most in MLB history, he seeks to bolster his Hall of Fame case by demonstrating his continued ability to close games.
The Boston Red Sox are surging into playoff position thanks to a stunning turnaround, but one player who has been consistent and dependable in the back of the bullpen has been veteran closer Aroldis Chapman.
Chapman returned to his All-Star form with the Red Sox last year and has maintained it this season, virtually guaranteeing a future in Boston no matter how the team’s ongoing playoff surge turns out.
“Aroldis Chapman's latest appearance all but ensured he'll spend at least one more season in a Boston Red Sox uniform,” theScore’s Simon Sharkey-Gotlieb reported earlier this week. “Chapman’s clean ninth inning in Boston’s 4-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday pushed him to 40 innings, vesting his $13 million option for 2027.”
The stability that the Red Sox are enjoying with Chapman offered a compelling background for some recent comments from one of his most recent predecessors, as legendary reliever Craig Kimbrel recently shared that he remains determined to return to save situations before he ends his career.
Kimbrel's latest chapter has taken him to the Kansas City Royals after an extraordinary late-career journey that has included 14 uniforms since the beginning of 2021,Sam Blum" href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7525588/2026/08/20/craig-kimbrel-royals-mlb-saves-hall-of-fame/?eafs_enabled=false" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"> according to The Athletic’s Sam Blum. He has also been traded twice, named an All-Star twice and designated for assignment or outrighted six times during that span.
Yet Kimbrel's desire to continue pitching isn't simply about extending his playing career. The former Red Sox star still wants to demonstrate that he can perform in the role that made him one of baseball's most feared relievers.
“Part of Kimbrel’s desire to continue could be rooted in building his Hall of Fame case. He wants to show he can still save games,” Blum wrote. “‘I’m still pitching to prove that I can do that,’ he said.”
That motivation makes sense when considering just how dominant Kimbrel once was, including during a three-year stint with the Red Sox that included a World Series championship.
Kimbrel's three-year run with the Red Sox from 2016 through 2018 and it remains one of the defining stretches of his career.
Boston acquired him from the San Diego Padres before the 2016 season, and he immediately assumed the ninth-inning role. Despite missing time with a knee injury that year, he finished with 31 saves. His 2017 season was considerably better: Kimbrel posted a 1.43 ERA with 126 strikeouts in 69 innings while recording 35 saves.
The following season, he reached another milestone by recording his 300th career save. He finished 2018 with 42 saves and helped Boston win the World Series, adding six postseason saves along the way.
Kimbrel's career has changed dramatically since then, but his ambitions have not. While Chapman has given the Red Sox a strong present and a likely bridge into 2027, Kimbrel is still chasing a return to the closer role that defined his prime.
For a pitcher with 440 career saves, fifth-most in MLB history, the opportunity to add to that total remains powerful motivation.