What It Means:

Those are a lot of big words, but basically Kimbrel's knee surgery is expected to shelve him for three-to-six weeks, so he's looking at a return at some point in August. Koji Uehara should serve as the primary closer for Boston during his absence, but Brad Ziegler could also get some chances.

Kimbrel has 17 saves with a strikeout rate of 37.04 percent over 33 innings pitched this season. Once he returns, our models project him to have eight saves in 15 2/3 remaining innings on the year.