Right-handed pitcher Brandon Kintzler is set to sign a minor league deal with the Padres, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN.
Kintzler, 38, appeared in 12 straight MLB seasons from 2010 to 2021, and will look to make it lucky 13 here in 2022. He began his big league career with the Brewers before going to the Twins, Nationals, Cubs, Marlins and Phillies. In 483 career games, he has a 3.50 ERA, largely due to his ground ball-inducing ways. His 16.8% career strikeout rate is below average, but he’s managed to get hitters to put the ball into the dirt on 56.4% of balls in play. He’s also avoided free passes, keeping walks down to a 6.5% rate.
He signed with the Phillies last year but endured a rough campaign. After registering a 2.68 ERA in 2019 and a 2.22 mark in 2020, it shot up to 6.37 last year. He still got strikeouts, walks and grounders at roughly his career rates, but his .369 batting average on balls in play was much worse than previous seasons. He also saw 29.2% of fly balls turn into homers, more than double his career rate. He was designated for assignment after the Phils made some acquisitions at the trade deadline, getting released in early August.
After now sitting on the sidelines for an entire year, Kintzler will gear back up with the Padres. The club has five relievers currently on the injured list, including four on the 60-day IL: Austin Adams, Pierce Johnson, Drew Pomeranz and Craig Stammen. Kintzler will presumably join the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas at some point and start to get into game shape, providing the Friars with some veteran bullpen depth.
Not a bad depth move
why not try another Crismatt-style sinkerballer? They already have an abundance of RPs thowring 98 mph (over center of plate in Garcia’s case)
Or 2 feet off of it in Josh Hader’s case.
Or 15 ft wide of Bell at 1st base
Hopefully he doesn’t use the same hair spray Tatis does.
San Diego has 9 games against the dodgers in sept. They’re going to need extra pitching. Too bad Soto can’t pitch.
I mean why not? Good move
Just what they needed, a locker room snitch.
Whole franchise now has “Tatis-Stink”. Tatis been sending off warning signals about who he really is pretty much since he got to the league. Mom and Dad on social media adding to the lies. Family of Clowns!
C’mon! LeT tHe KiDz pLaY!!
Very rich clowns
Whole franchise? The guy has not played for months and you say the entire franchise has his “stink” Dramatic much? Stupid comment, IMO
scorched-earth judgement of an entire franchise because of one dopey 23 year old kid? That’s a depressing way to see the world VB
I guess your whole franchise comment can refer to any team.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_players_suspended_for_performance-enhancing_drugs
The franchise doesn’t rely on one immature young kid that should have known what to put or not put in their body.
Dennis Lin reported the other day that reporters knew other bad stories about Tatis dating back to when he was the #1 prospect and possibly earlier but they just didn’t leak out.
He messed up. The Padres didn’t. It happens. He isn’t the first player to burn bridges and won’t be the last. Do reporters know stories that the rest of us don’t? I seriously hope so or they’re just taking up time and space. Is it time for this franchise to move on from him…I think so.
@hired, although I totally disagree with your moving on comment, it would be interesting to see what type of prospect package could be obtained for him and if Padres could fill any holes this off-season with a trade and just role with Kim at short if he continues his current success. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tatis and hope he comes back and proves you and everyone else wrong, but since Kim has really put it together, it might be worth AJ listening to other GMs.
PHD, concur with your analysis doctor. Let’s enjoy this season and be ready for a very interesting hot stove.