Chicago Cubs: Ranking this year’s most valuable pitchers

Despite how things played out, the Chicago Cubs got some strong performances from key pitchers this year – including one starter you might not think of.

The inconsistencies of the Chicago Cubs pitching staff, as a whole, dominated headlines throughout the 2019 season. Jon Lester started to show his age, Cole Hamels looked like a wildly different pitcher after returning from injury and in the bullpen, high-leverage woes ran rampant.

The bullpen will likely look wildly different in 2020 given the high number of players poised to hit free agency – including several key members of last year’s relief corps. Chicago heads into the winter with at least one void in the rotation, with Hamels hitting the open market, as well.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom when it came to Cubs pitchers this season. Several guys turned in solid campaigns and played integral roles in keeping the team in the playoff hunt right now to the final weeks of the season.

Let’s look at some of the most valuable pitchers for this year’s Chicago Cubs team using Fangraphs WAR – and break down what these four guys brought to the table this season and what they may offer as the team looks to get back on top in 2020.

Chicago Cubs: Kintzler goes from has-been to lights-out

When the Cubs went out and acquired Brandon Kintzler mid-season last year, he was supposed to bring a veteran presence to the bullpen and give Joe Maddon another option late in ballgames. Instead, he imploded and, by season’s end, was pretty much unusable in any kind of high-leverage spot.

After coming to Chicago, the right-hander made 25 appearances – pitching to a 2.000 WHIP, allowing 13.5 hits per nine and struggling mightily with command, evidenced by his 1.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Cubs promptly declined their $10 million team option for 2020, only to see the veteran opt in to his $5 million player option.

Thank goodness he did so.

Kintzler buried his 2018 struggles and became one of Maddon’s most trusted arms in 2019, racking up 62 appearances for the Cubs. He pitched to a sterling 2.68 ERA while striking out 7.6 strikeouts per nine – his best single-season mark since 2015.

At Wrigley Field, Kintzler was nails. In 30 1/3 innings of work, he turned in a 0.89 earned run average with a 6.25 strikeout-to-walk ratio. When he took the ball at home, you pretty much knew he was going to get the job done.

He’s one of several veterans poised to hit the open market this winter. He’ll turn 36 next summer, so it remains to be seen if the Cubs will bring him back again in 2020. But one thing’s for sure. Without his contributions, the 2019 campaign could have ended on a much lower note than it did with him.

Chicago Cubs: A late-season collapse blurs the numbers for Quintana

If you’re going off Fangraphs WAR, Jose Quintana ranked as the second-most valuable Chicago Cubs starting pitcher this season. That’s pretty hard to believe when you take a look at his high-level numbers.

The southpaw finished with the second-highest ERA among qualified National League starters (4.68) trailing only German Marquez of the Colorado Rockies (4.76) who calls hitter-friendly Coors Field home.

The 30-year-old made 31 starts – marking the seventh consecutive year in which he eclipsed the 30-start mark. But a horrendous run of starts in September erased all hopes of finishing the year with even remotely respectable numbers. Sure, he took the ball every five days, but he was pretty prone to clunkers that make it hard to evaluate his overall body of work.

In the season’s final month, Quintana pitched to an 11.09 ERA. Across those five starts, he failed to pitch into the sixth inning even once, with the Cubs losing three of those five games. He allowed at least four earned runs in each of his September outings.

Still, when you factor in the significant time Hamels missed, the down year from Lester and the dramatic first-to-second half splits from Darvish, Quintana was, arguably, one of the team’s most consistent arms. It’s just that everything went wrong when it mattered most – and that’s what we all remember.

Chicago Cubs: Darvish steals headlines, but Hendricks dominates again

It seems like every single year, when the season ends, I write about how Kyle Hendricks pitched well, yet went through another campaign as one of the game’s most underrated starting pitchers. 2019 was no different as the Professor led the Chicago rotation with poise.

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The biggest story for Hendricks this year was his drastic home-road splits. When he toed the rubber at Wrigley Field, he was one of the most effective pitchers in all of baseball, working to a 2.04 ERA, 0.874 WHIP and 6.31 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 14 home starts.

Away from the Friendly Confines, though, he was very beatable. Of his 19 home runs allowed on the year, 13 of them came on the road – and despite throwing more innings at home, he actually walked more batters in his road starts in 2019.

All of this evened out to another respectable, yet hardly ace-worthy line for Hendricks, who will pitch next season under the first year of his new contract, a four-year, $55.5 million deal with a vesting option for 2024.

Whether or not Hendricks can or will replicate his masterful 2016 performance remains to be seen. One thing is for sure, though. He looks to be the likeliest of the Cubs starting pitchers to age gracefully, given the fact he relies on location, not overpowering hitters with velocity, to get outs.

With Hendricks returning alongside Darvish, who turned in an absolutely masterful second half for Chicago in 2019 – the Cubs have a talented one-two punch atop the rotation. But they’ll need more consistency from Quintana (assuming they pick up his option for 2020) and a return to form from Jon Lester if they want to put together another deep October run next season.