TODAY: The Marlins “are working on a deal” with Kintzler, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets.
JANUARY 24: The Marlins are a reported finalist for righty Pedro Strop, but they’re also “very much in pursuit” of right-hander Brandon Kintzler, tweets Craig Mish of FNTSY Sports Radio. The Miami organization is hoping to entrust ninth-inning duties to one of those two veteran late-inning arms.
Both Strop and Kintzler have spent the past couple seasons with the Cubs. But while Strop is out on the market in hopes of enjoying a rebound season in 2020, Kintzler has already enjoyed a strong rebound effort and is hoping to cash in on his 2019 showing.
In 2018, the now-35-year-old Kintzler limped to a 4.60 ERA (4.10 FIP, 4.50 xFIP) through 60 2/3 innings between the Nationals and Cubs. He’d been sharp in D.C. but immediately scuffled in Chicago, posting a 7.00 ERA in 18 innings. It wasn’t at all the showing for which the Cubs had hoped and Kintzler unsurprisingly exercised a $5MM player option.
That 2018 hiccup now looks like more of an outlier, though, as Kintlzer recorded a career-best 2.68 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 0.79 HR/9 and a 54.7 percent ground-ball rate. As usual, Kintzler’s low-spin sinker — where, unlike with four-seam heaters, less spin is considered a positive — generated plenty of grounders. He also more than doubled the amount he used his changeup and enjoyed an uptick on his swinging-strike rate against that particular offering.
Kintzler now has an ERA of 3.15 or better in three of the past four seasons. Going back seven years to his first full season in the bigs, he’s posted an ERA of 3.24 or better on five occasions, with the lone exceptions coming in 2018 and in 2015, when a knee injury wiped out most of his season (seven MLB innings, 19 in the minors). All told, he has a career 3.37 earned run average in 424 1/3 innings. And while his lifetime 6.3 K/9 mark isn’t the gaudy total one expects to see from a closer, Kintzler is no stranger to late-inning pressures. He’s tallied 49 saves in his big league tenure, thriving thanks to a quality 2.3 BB/9 mark and his robust 56.1 percent grounder rate.
Get both signed, Hill!!
It’s going to be a very interesting Spring Training.
With the 5 fans in attendance…
Marlins will win more games than cubs this year and pass the crown of most chaotic franchise to cubs in the process
How much did you lose on the 2016 World Series ?
That’s all we ever hear about from cub fans. That one measly World Series win in the last 112 years. Get over it already.
Rockies are trying pretty hard to enter the picture for most chaotic as well. Not sure how you manage to give a guy 240 million and a year later have him talking to the media about being disrespected.
Dude, get help.
Even if the Marlins sign both of these guys, the Marlins are still a 5th place team !
So what? You should get back to the Cubs signing of minor league free agents with an invite to ST.
Cubs would be a 5th place team in the NL East as well.
You are on some serious recreational pharmaceuticals if you believe that the Marlins are a better team than the Cubs.
They could sign these two guys, Castellanos, and trade for Mookie, and they’d still be a fifth place team.
Marlins have such a low payroll they should be eating bad contracts in exchange for prospects. Rox have Shaw, Desmond, and Davis. Orioles and Davis. Angels Pujols. The list could keep going. The Marlins could afford many of these players and get great single A talent in the deals.
That would require Jeter to spend his profits from MLB profit sharing…
I bet the Marlins sign Matt Joyce ;)
It makes sense
Well you called it…. you must be Matt Joyce….
Or maybe Matt’s manager ? Lol
Jeter pulling the strings to help the Yankees send Andujar and Stanton to the Rox for Arenado. Get her done!
No one is taking on that terrible Stanton contract lol.
Cubs will play in October
Monopoly?