Brandon Kintzler credits a bounce-back campaign in 2019 to working with Tommy Hottovy to simplify his mechanics during Spring Training, he said on MLB Network Radio (audio link). After a strong season with the Cubs, Kintzler is drawing “plenty of interest” on the free agent market.
Kintzler, 35, worked through one of the worst campaigns of his career in 2018, especially struggling after coming to Chicago from the Nationals in a mid-season trade. He was knocked around for a 7.00 ERA across those 25 appearances in a Cubs’ uniform, giving up 13.5 H/9 and walking an unusually high 4.5 batters per nine innings.
The sinkerballer turned in around in 2019, however, becoming one of the Cubs most reliable relievers across 62 appearances (57 innings). He put up a career-high 1.7 bWAR and career-low 2.84 ERA, though a 3.56 FIP puts his turnaround closer to career norms enjoyed throughout previous tenures with the Brewers, Twins and Nationals.
Kintzler was particularly tough on lefties in 2019, holding them to a .163/.247/.275 line. Career splits paint Kintzler as more of an equal opportunist, though he’s done a nice job of limiting left-handed power throughout his career. The changeup is key against opposite-hand hitters, a pitch he went away from during his struggles in 2018. With simpler, repeatable mechanics in 2019, his feel for the pitch returned, and with it returned his effectiveness.
It’s a shame we used the likes of Holland,Brach,Rosario, and Edwards.
We?
He’s one of these people that can’t grasp the concept that it’s “they” and not “we”. Because I highly doubt he has any ownership of the Cubs.
Aww, that is so nice. Two crappy comments about a poster but no discussion about the free agent interest.
The pronoun police are SO annoying. Aren’t there sites dedicated to grammar they can visit so real baseball fans here can actually comment on……baseball?
Banesays…..Actually he is one who has grasped the concept that teams have spent millions over the years to promote the feeling that fan investment is important. For decades teams have played songs like “We are Family”, “We Will Rock You”, “We Are The Champions”, all to give the fans a feeling of involvement and “ownership”.
It’s not a difficult concept and one I am, sure you have witnessed. I know I have. I have never witnessed a player, coach or owner discourage fans from saying “we”, have you? I have only ever seen other fans nitpick.
Thundercub is the only one posting about the article… let’s keep this going.
Fans have enough emotional investment they can use we
Ricketts won’t care about the “we” unless “we” ask for a cut of the profits.
@Go-kart Mozart
Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighdeeho!
Dang right “WE”, if I’m spending money and time on the team it is for sure WE
Boxers or briefs?
What do you like on your hot dog?
My goodness, it’s almost like one of the mlbtr chats.
Boxer briefs and Chicago dog with ketchup. That’s right , I paid for it I’ll put ketchup on it!
CallingOutDummies is a pretty ironic username, ya dummy.
Yes, we. We spend money on tickets, souvineers, concessions at the ballpark, pay to watch ballgames on tv, and even help fund stadiums when they used public funding with taxes.
Yeah, gee, who has ever heard fans talk about their favorite team with possessive plural pronouns before? “We need to score a couple runs here” or “We need to go out and get some pitching”
The Cubs have some smaller amount of money to spend now 5 – 8 mil and they need to strike on a couple of available bullpen pieces before they are gone and off the market. Rosario is fairly young and still has some potential as a situational lefty.
Klentak get it done
Going to miss Kintzler, such a competitor and when team really needed a double play to get out of a jam, you can count on him to get the job done.
The guy’s had some good years, even been an All Star. Maybe the Cubs should try and keep him. You need a few guys like this to have an effective bullpen.
So is there any word on who the clubs are that interested. Hopefully the Reds and looking at him. WE need some bullpen help.
Probably a ton of teams, good add for any bullpen
Cubs bullpen coach and maybe the pitching coach should be fired if he wasn’t already.
Because he helped Kintzler become an effective pitcher again? That is a bad thing?
@dylan1g
This is an ignorant comment. Hottovy did well in his first year.
He sucks
Guys who suck usually don’t have an era around or below 3 in 3 of the past 4 seasons.
Back to Kintzler-
In ’18 the Nats and their fans saw what can happen when a sinkerballer has mechanics that are out of sink. Kintzler also had various nick and strains during the season, which had no small affect on his performance,
But what a difference a year makes….
Like Strasburg recently, Kintzler simplified and reaped the benefits of being able to consistently repeat his delivery. This of course , translates to increased control, which usually means more swinging strikes out of the strikezone and more weak contact. The increase confidence that comes with consistency can’t be understated.
All of this leaves Kintz as a lower risk signing for a lot of teams on the outside looking in at the reliever market
You’d think a team with Rendon, Simba, Fletcher around the infield would be looking for ground ball pitchers.
But Billy is all about velo out of the ‘pen.
Kimbrel was terrible last season. Strop was major disappointment. So was Edwards. Morrow didn’t even pitch. Cubs rotation is aged and mediocre. We need help in bullpen now more than ever. Cubs also are losing Cishek. We may find a cheap option or two but can’t piecemeal an entire bullpen.
This is my pipe dream…once the grievance is settled, trade Bryant for prospects that Cleveland would wNt in a trade and use some of those prospects along with Contreras if that’s what it takes to get Lindor and sign him to an extension – like 7 years. That would solve the gaping whole at leadoff and you move Baez to 3rd. Sign Ryu to a 3 year deal and trade Quintana for prospects or solid bullpen help, Ryu walks fewer and gives up fewer HR’s than Q and is a better pitcher than Q at this point. Those moves wouldn’t bust the payroll situation. Chatwood can fill in for Ryu if he spends a little time on the DL this season and Chatwood’s 13 mil comes off the books at the end of this season. Finally, would like to see Mills be given the 5th starter slot.
Cubs don’t have prospects to get Lindor, unfortunately. Plan is good though.
The idea is to trade Bryant for prospects and ship those resources to Cleveland along with Contreras if that’s what it takes to get Lindor.
They can’t afford Lindor! If they can’t afford Bryant then they can’t afford Lindor!
Lindor is still under arbitration for this year and next and his salary is almost $2 mil less than Bryant – 16.7 mil versus 18.5 mil. Increased salaries for Lindor as part of an extension wouldn’t kick in until 2022 and by then overpaid roster spots like Chatwood’s $13 mil a year will be gone so you could afford to pay Lindor a 7 year contract extension at around $27 mil a year. Easy for me to say…but the point is, the Cubs need a competent leadoff hitter if they are going to seriously contend for another championship and Lindor fits the bill. And yeah, I know, they are going to have to pay Baez an extension and eventually Schwarber and Rizzo but by then, high priced salary slots like Lester, etc will be off the books and will hopefully be replaced by some home grown starting pitching and position players that will cost significantly less.
Not remotely possible! Besides the only thing the cubs can do is cut salary. Until they solve their budget problem, players and team improvement will be on hold.
If they were really hurting for reducing payroll, they could trade Quintana now for prospects and replace his spot in the rotation with Alec Mills. That would save $10 mil in one move. The 5th roster spot could be taken by one of Chatwood/Alzolay/Underwood. They need to improve this roster and there are ways to do it without busting the budget. Theo and company better make some smart moves in the next couple of months to improve the line up, rotation and bullpen and not waste the best years of Baez, Rizzo, Schwarber, etc.
My Mets could use him. No, I don’t have any ownership stake in the Mets, but I’ve been rooting for them and going to games since the early 1980’s, so I’m heavily “invested” in them. I guess the only team the police here would approve of a fan saying “we” would be the Green Bay Packers if the fan lived in Green Bay since the team is owned by the citizens of the city.
I heard him on MLB Network yesterday, sounds like he has figured it out. He sounded like a bulldog. Also saw Glasnow on the MLB Network TV, he came across totally the opposite. He said the season is a grind, and he never gets up for a game, while Kintzler said he starts getting up for the game every day about the 5th inning. Kintzler was a 40 round pick. He said his change up has improved and helped him get both righties and lefties out. This will help him with the new 3 batter limit.