The All-Star Game put together this surprisingly fun little video, and, well, let’s watch it first:
Kind of fun, right? You wanna watch it again? Let’s!
That was fun. You catch more things the second time through.
Anyway, Craig Kimbrel: sleep mask guy? I like it! Firstly, because I’ve read before about it being hard for closers to fall asleep after getting so amped up so late at night, so I appreciate that he takes that seriously. Secondly, because it’s charming. You don’t want everyone to be a sleep mask guy, but you want sleep mask guys here and there, and the bullpen is a great place for sleep mask guys.
Thinking on this last night as I coughed intermittently in fallout from what may have been eating too quickly two and a half weeks ago (long story, sinuses involved, no I haven’t learned my lesson), I realized that the Cubs’ failure to win a postseason game in Kimbrel’s tenure has robbed us from really getting to know him. Some relievers, you get to know because they look like Andrew Chafin and act like Andrew Chafin. Others, you only get to know when they’re celebrating the final outs of respective postseason triumphs.
We’ve learned a little about Kimbrel. We were reminded that he doesn’t have to have a beard. We found out that he is not one to know he’s part of a no-hitter while it’s happening. But questions abound. Where did he come from? Where will he go? Does he have a small gnome he calls “little Moe?”
Maybe there isn’t a lot there. But I feel like there might be. The combination of former beard/good smile/looking really short next to Kris Bryant/that one time he forgot to cover first base in 2019 in his first appearance and almost killed Rizzo has me suspecting he’s a charmer. And the sleep mask, which it’s possible he was given and also possible he grabbed when they gave him and Bryant an option of little props to use with respective bits attached, had me wondering again.
Alas.
Soon he will be gone.
For someone else to get to know.
