According to sources, the Texas Rangers are signing former All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel to a minor league contract.

Kimbrel was designated for assignment by the Atlanta Braves last week after throwing just one scoreless inning in his return to his longtime team.

For much of his career, Kimbrel was at the top of the game when it came to closers, even finishing in the top ten of CY Young voting five times from 2011-2017 with the Braves, San Diego Padres, and Boston Red Sox.

However, it was after his Sox tenure that things started to fall off for Kimbrel, who put up a season ERA under 3.00 just once while pitching for the Cubs, White Sox, Dodgers, Phillies, and Orioles.

Baltimore was seemingly the bottom of the cliff for Kimbrel, who got an opportunity to close for an Orioles team that was contending, but was DFA’d after putting up a 5.33 ERA.

Now, Kimbrel will join a Rangers team that boasted a 3.56 ERA entering play yesterday and hasn’t grasped onto a defined closer this season.

Should Kimbrel end up putting up solid numbers in the minor leagues, he most definitely could get a shot with the big club.

From a Rangers perspective, the deal marks a low-risk, potential high-reward signing that Mike Maddux and the Texas pitching staff seem to hit on more times than not.