With about an hour to go until the MLB Trade Deadline, it was revealed the Washington Nationals traded Brandon Kintzler to the Chicago Cubs.
The Washington Nationals have certainly had an interesting MLB Trade Deadline. With just over an hour to go, news broke of Brandon Kintzler being sent to the Chicago Cubs.
Kintzler was dealt by the Minnesota Twins at last year’s trade deadline to the Nats for pitching prospect Tyler Watson. Now he’s been traded again after a fairly successful 12 months with the team.
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In 2018, the right-hander has an ERA of 3.59 with two saves, but he had turned it around of late. He had the joint most appearances on the team in July with 13, and pitched to the tune of a 2.03 ERA.
Kintzler seemed like a popular figure around the clubhouse with the Nationals, and that was evidenced by his help with Tanner Roark in his latest start.
He helped Roark improve his mechanics with his two-seam fastball, ensuring that he got the ball down, low in the zone. Byron Kerr from MASN Sports wrote a fantastic article on this, and now it’s a shame that they won’t be able to continue their work together.
In return for Kintzler, the Nationals got a young right-handed relief pitcher, Jhon Romero, who is currently pitching in Single-A. The Colombian was signed back in 2015 and so far in 2018 with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, he has a 3.27 ERA with 57 strikeouts in 44 innings pitched.
Overall the return does seem low for Kintzler, just getting a low minors reliever for someone who’s been a reliable arm at the backend of the bullpen. But if the Nats were going to trade away anyone while still trying to compete it was going to come from the bullpen.
The Washington Nationals will be sad to see Brandon Kintzler go, as a fan favorite. We wish him all the success in the world with the Chicago Cubs, and we’ll see him in just over a week when the team heads to Wrigley Field.