Cubs Sign Reliever George Kontos to Minor League Deal

The Cubs added another veteran reliever Friday, agreeing to a minor-league deal with George Kontos. Kontos, an Illinois native. has played most of his career for the San Francisco Giants. Bruce Levine of 670 the Score was the first to break the news.

Chicago Cubs and reliever George Kontos in agreement on minor league deal. Kontos went to Driveline a Metrics / data driven pitching rehab destination . Kontos picked up 3 MPH while working there .

— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) January 26, 2019

The 33 year-old right handed pitcher had a sub-3.00 ERA in four of his five full seasons in San Francisco. His numbers slipped a bit in 2017 and the Giants placed him on waivers. He was claimed by the Pirates and pitched well with a 1.84 ERA in 14.2 innings for the Bucs.

Pittsburgh resigned him to a one-year deal for the 2018 season, but he struggled, posting a 5.03 ERA (6.11 FIP) in 19.2 innings. He was released in May and signed by Cleveland in June. He pitched only 5.1 innings for the Tribe before he was acquired by the Yankees for cash in August. He made a grand total of one appearance for New York, spending most of the time in AAA.

Kontos is a control pitcher who has always had a walk rate better than league average. He isn’t a hard thrower sitting about 90 miles an hour on his fastball. It’s a low-risk flyer, if he can recapture his Giants form it might be a steal. If he really has added velocity, as Levine suggests, I like the move.