Houston Astros hope a washed up former Cubs pitcher can solve their huge problem

It's been a while now since Craig Kimbrel showed he had anything left in the tank. But that's not stopping the Houston Astros from rolling the dice on the veteran right-hander, signing him to a big-league deal on Thursday, in hopes he can help shore up the back end of the bullpen.

Kimbrel made a lone big-league appearance with the Braves earlier this year, but has spent the majority of the 2025 season in Triple-A, where he's more or less done what he's done for years now: piled up strikeouts, as well as walks. He's punched out more than 31 percent of Triple-A batters he's faced this year, but has issued free passes to north of 13 percent of opponents.

That doesn't exactly inspire confidence if you're the Astros, but post-trade deadline, options are limited, and Houston is just looking to capitalize on the Mariners' recent skid and stay on top in the AL West.

Craig Kimbrel's Cubs tenure was nothing short of a complete disaster

Cubs fans still have nightmares of Kimbrel's time in Chicago. Signed halfway through the 2019 season once he was no longer tied to draft pick compensation, the right-hander was a complete liability, posting a 6.53 ERA and 1.597 WHIP in 23 appearances. He was better, but still a far cry from the guy he was earlier in his career, in 2020 and finally regained his form in 2021.

That return to form allowed Jed Hoyer to move him at the deadline that summer, along with several other key players, namely Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez. The Kimbrel trade brought infielder Nick Madrigal and reliever Codi Heuer to the North Side - but, as we all know, neither went on to make much of an impact during their respective Cubs tenures.

Since that trade, Kimbrel has bounced around, pitching for the White Sox, Dodgers, Phillies, Orioles and Braves. He earned an All-Star selection, the ninth of his career, with Philadelphia in 2023, but has offered very little since. This year, his fastball has averaged around 92 MPH - a far cry from where it once sat - but the Astros are hoping to squeeze out the last bit of baseball he has left in him in the coming weeks. With Hader out for the rest of the regular season and Bryan Abreu their only real above-average righty reliever, Astros' GM Dana Brown is hoping to pull a rabbit out of his hat with this move.