Interest remains strong in White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana, writes CBS Chicago’s Bruce Levine, who reports that teams have sweetened their trade proposals for the 27-year-old over the past week. While the Astros, Pirates and Yankees have been connected to Quintana more than anyone else this offseason, there are also other clubs in the mix, sources told Levine, who adds that the White Sox could strike a deal to move him soon. Chicago isn’t in any hurry to give up Quintana, but Levine expects it to happen prior to spring training.
Elsewhere around the majors…
- Yankees southpaw C.C. Sabathia will turn 37 in 2017, the last year of his contract, but retirement isn’t on his mind. Regarding the end of the long Yankee tenures of Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira last season, Sabathia told Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record, “If anything, it made me want to play as long as I can. As long as I’m healthy and feeling good, I want to play.’’ While Sabathia is no longer the front-line starter he was earlier in his career, he did bounce back last season from a couple subpar years in a row. In 179 2/3 innings, he logged a 3.91 ERA, 7.61 K/9, 3.26 BB/9 and 50.1 percent ground-ball rate. That impressed general manager Brian Cashman, who said, “It’s a big year for him. It’s his free-agent walk year. And I’ll sign up right now to get what we got out of him last year. He was very effective.’’ Cashman also stated that Sabathia’s “expectations and hopes are to pitch for another four or five years or something like that.”
- The Nationals and right fielder Bryce Harper avoided arbitration Friday when they agreed to a $13.625MM salary for 2017. That figure trumps MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz’s $9.3MM arbitration projection for Harper, leading Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com to wonder if it was a goodwill gesture on the Nationals’ part. Harper made $5MM last season, which was a bargain even during a down year for the 2015 National League MVP. By nearly tripling Harper’s salary, Zuckerman posits that the Nats may have been trying to make up for his cheap cost last year and perhaps improve their chances of extending the Scott Boras client before he hits free agency two winters from now. However, regardless of the club’s motivation, Zuckerman concedes that Harper’s 2017 salary probably won’t affect whether he’ll stay in D.C.
- Cardinals outfielder Randal Grichuk underwent left knee surgery to remove loose cartilage earlier this offseason, he told reporters – including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch – on Sunday (Twitter link). Grichuk added that he’s doing well after a month-plus recovery. The 25-year-old has now undergone surgeries in back-to-back offseasons, including a procedure to repair a sports hernia last winter. With the signing of big-money center fielder Dexter Fowler in free agency, Grichuk is in line for the everyday job in left next season (depth chart).
Yes I was the first one to comment about this
4-5 years for CC? While I was happily surprised with last year I don’t see anymore than 2 really. 3 maybe because there will be some team desperate enough for pitching .
I agree here. It’s been only one good year for and he thinks he play over 40? Ha…that
Bulky knee is going to be his issue and whoever going to give him a real shot at a rotation spot.
he said he wants to pitch for 4 or 5 more, not that he wants a 4 or 5 year contract. He can go year to year and maybe end up in a pen towards the end. Time will tell, but he has been effective enough to at least get invites
Look at Bartolo Colon. That guy basically lost five straight seasons to injury in the middle of his career. 5! And has come back since then to pitch 6 seasons of average to above-average durable starting pitching. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility to think Sabathia could have a second act.
The Sox have all the leverage and will get a really good package for Q. It’s a sellers market for starting pitching, especially when the pitcher being offered is as good, cheap and controllable as Q. If it’s the Stros, it’ll have to be headlined by Marte, Tucker + others. Pirates would be Meadows, Bell + others. No reason they’ll settle for less. Their holding all the cards. They’ll get what they want.
I dissagree, the Sox have received their best offer for Quintana already! They won;t get any better offers before spring training. The longer they wait, the less they will get for him.
All it takes is one team in a bidding war to up the offer. They are already getting better offers by waiting. Sox are in the position of power, no matter what you think.
Why would you think that? The Sox have no reason to accept less than what they want. He’s cheap and controllable for four years. That’s an incredible commodity these days for a pitcher as good as Q and everybody in baseball knows it. Sox can easily wait for the market. It’ll only go up. They have no compelling reason to move him.
I’m a White Sox fan but to say the market will go up is just flat out wrong. Interest will probably go down as long as this carries on. The free agent market is loaded with pitchers next offseason.
His value is at his peak right now. Trade him now or keep him for good.
Sometimes, waiting just means that teams “look somewhere else”.
Value equals……. “What someone is willing to Pay”……that’s it.
Thay makes no sense. Free agent pitchers are going to command much more money. Q is cheap and really good.
You do realize that he’s under contract for 4 extremely cheap years, right? Even if they don’t trade him this year, it’s FAR from “keep him for good”…
You’re right about next year’s market looking like it’ll be loaded with pitchers. What you fail to mention is that they’ll cost a TON of $$$$ – something that Quintana will not. So he’ll still hold value next year. It might not be as high to teams like the Yankees, but it’ll still be extremely high to teams that don’t spend like that (Pittsburgh and Houston still).
Or we can pretend that nobody is interested in him next year because of all the other pitchers. Guess what? They keep him again and trade him the following year, when he still has TWO cheap years left.
Doesn’t work then? Trade him in his walk year for the discounted price that teams want him for.
Assuming he doesn’t get seriously injured in the meantime, they’ll have PLENTY of time and opportunity to move Q if they want to.
Extremely high to Houston? Were you asleep this offseason?
The past almost decade teams put an extremely high price on their prospects. They’d rather give out more money. Why? Well it’s just money. They make a mistake they can move on. Plus the compensation rules changed. No more 1st round pick compensation.
You mean this offseason where the biggest yearly contract they signed was 1yr $16 mil? That’s quite the leap from there to $20-30+ mil that the pitchers like Q will command on the market next year. Especially when they’re going to have to start paying their young players in the near future. A cost controlled top-end starter is exactly what they should be looking for.
And the compensation rule had absolutely no effect when signing players of Q’s caliber.
Absolutely! White Sox will get a King’s ransom for Q, just as they did Sale and Eaton. The rebuilding is going great. The Sox will be a team to be reckoned with w/in a couple of years.
I was referring to their GM saying the owner gave them the all go to spend as much as possible to get to a championship.
They should be looking for it I agree. But Lunhow is a prospect hoarder. They value prospects much higher even though Q high price is completely reasonable.
Sure it did. The point is to get those middle tier teams jump into the mix.
Part of the thought with free agent pitching is that it only costs money not prospects. Teams nowadays seem to value quality prospects more than money. So basically his market right now is the teams that see themselves one good piece away from serious contention. Others would likely wait a year.
Exactly right. The availability of free agent pitchers has nothing to do with Q’s value. In fact, it only heightens his value. Trading for Q means a team and still sign a free agent pitcher because his salary is so team-friendly. A team can build a formidable pitching with Q as a centerpiece. Trading for Q and signing a free agent pitcher are not mutually exclusive. You can do both because he so cheap. That only heightens his value.
Free agent pitchers do not raise Qs value regardless of whatever asinine reasoning you try to concoct.
Not really sure what your point is Chet. But if a team like the Yankess trades for Q on an extremely cheap contract, they can rebuild their pitching staff more easily over the next four years via free agency, trades and through the system. Not that complicated. He’s an extremely valuable commodity because of his ability, contract and control. He offers teams tremendous flexibility.
None of what you just said means that free agent pitchers increase his value…but keep trying
The yankees could also sign two free agent pitchers and rebuild their staff that way and offset the cost by using the prospects that they would trade in their lineup vs more expensive options.
Q is valuable because he’s good and controlled at cheap prices. The availability of free agent pitchers doesn’t “highten” his value.
I kind of agree but the Astros paid up for Carlos Gomez and Giles.
This would be true for a guy like Todd Frazier who is only under contract for 1 more year, is older than and is not as “in demand” as Quintana. But you saying that about Quintana is just flat out wrong. Sox have all the leverage – interested teams do not.
In fact, the Sox can draw this out a bit longer and the complete opposite would be more likely – in that a surprise team may come into the picture as they realize they need Q more than before (due to an injury, suspension, etc.).
GMs are becoming wiser – most teams would rather not pay a SP $25M per year (presumably what Q would make on the market if he were available this or next year) for 5-7 years if they can get the same guy for ~$12M per year for the next 4 years and trade away 2 top prospects and a handful of lesser prospects.
Cost of SPs ($ wise) only continues to rise. Cost of prospects is not.
Baron – you’re a moron. E.G. CHRIS SALE
While I partially agree with you saying that the WSox hold all the cards a number of factors will go against them once pitchers and catchers report. The WSox are thinking this 1. Quintana has a chance of being injured. That is a real threat that is terrifying to a rebuilding team that has a large chip hanging in the balance. 2. The clock is ticking on length of contract. That is one of the things that is making him so valuable to mid tier teams…
For now it is in the WSox hands and they look for the best deal possible. Value can change in the blink of an eye though.
No Neck…. I hope we get something like that as well from the Astros. Like Q but you gotta go all out.
A more realistic comp to Martes/Tucker+ would be Glasnow/Bell+, not Meadows/Bell+. As much as I’d love to add both Meadows and Bell, I don’t see ANY way they move both of them, especially in the same deal.
While he’d be a nice add, the Pirates don’t need Quintana to make a run at a wild card. Since adding him won’t make the team any more of a threat to unseating the Cubs, why cave in and mortgage the future? No way Meadows is a part of a deal that in the end, doesn’t do much. Develop your young pitchers. Develop your young middle infielders and young catcher.
They beat the National s but The dumbness stops there don’t settle to low or too high just don’t get cheated
He 27 you Sox will need him in 2 years keep him
I can’t agree the White Sox are so urgent to move Quintana that they will lower the price to move him before spring training. After all they would have to fill his spot and with Sale gone and the starting pitching market weak holding him to the trade deadline gets you the best return and fills some seats for the first half. Without him who is gonna be keen to go watch the ChiSox?
But it also limits the number of teams willing to bid on him… Sox shouldn’t take any deal just for sake of making a deal.. Wait and take best deal available..
“Chicago isn’t in any hurry”
The article did not say anything about lowering their price, it actually said teams are sweetening the offers
That’s the White Sox front office line, of course they’re saying that.
And they clearly haven’t lowered the price as of now, or a deal would be done…
Not many people are going to go watch just because of Quintana anyways… That should be the least of their concerns right now.
If that’s what they’re really worried about instead of continuing to add top tier talent to their organization, they have issues. If that’s the case, they should still trade Q and try to get Buehrle to pitch again. That’s pretty much the only guy that’d be able to fill the seats by himself…
I believe the pirates are the best fit for Quintana
I’m not sure about them being the best fit (Astros sorely need more pitching, too), but as a White Sox fan, I like their prospects more than the Yankees’ or Astros’ guys.
The Astros are the best fit. And not just because I don’t want to pay the king’s ransom for JQ.
The Astros ARE one piece away. It makes sense to get him, no matter the price. Their chance to win it all is right here, right now.
The Pirates aren’t even close to that level.
They are at the “if every thing breaks right, we can get a wild card” level. And Quintana might not even beat out Cole to pitch in that game. And on top of that, they’d likely be pitching against Kershaw or Bumgarder or Syndergaard or Scherzer in that wild card game. I’d take any of them over Cole or Quintana.
It’s not worth selling the farm for a 0.5% chance to win.
The NL is going to be tough, with the Nationals going all in, the Mets’ rotation hopefully being healthy, the Dodgers getting healthy, the Giants getting better, and, of course, the Cubs. I agree that the Pirates don’t have the firepower to go for it. Maybe if Cutch was at his MVP-level, but not anymore.
Q is a frontline pitcher under team control for many years at mid/back end rotation prices. This is really a rare chance for the Pirates to get a pitcher of his caliber and be able to afford him. The Pirates will never win or even enter a bidding war for a player of his caliber. It’s not just a 2017 move… it’s a 2018 move….. a 2019 move…. etc. The Pirates will kick themselves if they don’t pay the White Sox price.
No.
They’ll be kicking themselves when Glasnow and Meadows are celebrating their World Series win in Chicago.
Would you pitch him over Cole in a wild card game?
Would you favor him over Kershaw/MadBum/Thor/Mad Max?
If your answer to any of those is yes, you are selling used cars.
Q pitching in the National League……. Hell yeah I’d start him over Cole. After seeing the ERA’s Quintana put up playing in the AL while pitching in the band box formally known as the Cell with an atrocious defense behind him…. I think its a case of you not understanding just how good Quintana has been in less than ideal circumstances. .I’m just worried about Glasnow. It’s pretty obvious the Pirates want to move him. I definitely don’t see a front line starter with his control issues.
“Its pretty obvious the Pirates want to move him”
Based on what, Miss Cleo? They’ve given zero indication that they just wanna move on from him. It would be INSANE for them to do that.
Q… Most quality starts in baseball since start of 15! Very underrated stat!
I really hope the Astros or Yankees get him.
I have no interest in seeing the Pirates trade Meadows or Bell. Even a deal built around Glasnow makes no sense (unless the Pirates smell bust like the Nats did with Giolito) because Glasnow’s ceiling is higher than Quintana’s. He could be the better pitcher a year from now. To add multiple top pieces to him….all for one arm that could need a TJ at any moment?
No thanks.
Rumors have the Pirates asking the Blue Jays for Vlad Jr. for Cutch. Flipping him for Quintana makes some sense, but even then I think I’d just add VGJr. to Newman and Bell and have a great infield to go with Polanco Marte and Meadows.
You said it yourself: ceiling. Quintana is an established pitcher who has proven to be well above average at the MLB level. None of the prospects on the Pirates have proven that. I really doubt a deal gets done without the WS getting one of Glasnow, Meadows, or Bell. There’s no way they trade him for guys with lower ceilings because then they take on all the risk with no potential big payoff.
Lol Vlad Jr. is 17 years old. He’s nowhere near the timeline of any of those other players.
Newman is in AA. Meadows is in AAA. The rest I mentioned are under Pirates control for 5-6 more years. He’d fit just fine.
My contention is that the Pirates need to sell Cutch, Watson and Cole and reload for 2019 or so.
That is their best chance to build a championship team instead of a quasi-pretender, which is what they’d be even with Quintana.
If they’re going to sell Cole, they should wait while he rebuilds a little value. Giving him up now would likely be selling low.
I’d trade Cutch now or at the deadline. Watson at the deadline and Cole at the Winter Meetings.
They usually unload a guy with two years left, so I think Cole is traded….likely to the Yankees….next winter.
So, all the more reason I hope the Astros get JQ. I want the Yankees to keep all of those guys.
Not sure how much they’d get for Cole from the Yankees. White Sox wanted some of their top prospects for Q and the Yankees said no. .Admittedly, Cole is better than Q, but there’s 4 years of control on him vs only 2 next year with Cole. If he comes back with another season of CYA contention, though, maybe you get any one guy not named Torres, another #50-100 guy, and a couple lower-level prospects.
Severino, a top prospect and a lotto ticket prospect sounds about right.
If Cole weren’t a Boras guy, I’d make extending him my top priority, but…that’s just not going to happen here.
Sure, if it was Severino from 2 years ago when he was a top prospect. Not so much after his performance last year. He looks like a hell of a bullpen piece at this point, which absolutely has value, but not as a main piece in a trade like this.
If he’s Severino from two years ago, the Yankees aren’t trading him.
If he’s middling again, they’ll move him like Nova. I’d take my chances on his stuff and Searage.
The top prospect would be the main piece. I know nothing about the SS Jorge Mateo, but I keep seeing his name as the expendable prospect. Newman may or may not stick at SS, but a better SS prospect moves him to 2nd or 3rd and fills that hole.
Add in one more piece and that sounds right.
It’s debatable whether Cole is better than Quintana. What can’t be argued is that “Q”‘ is more dependable with his health and has two extra years of cheap team control which definitely makes him the better value.
Vlad’s being 17 and a few years away might make him more attractive to the WS, though. Several of their prospects probably won’t arrive until 2018 and some not until 2019. I’d be interested in him going to the Sox.
Is Glasnow gonna all of a sudden develop pinpoint command? I agree that it doesn’t make a bunch of sense to give a bunch of stuff for Q, but come on with the Glasnow being better (especially anytime soon), dude has a bb/9 ~5.
JA Happ and Ivan Nova suddenly did. Glasnow’s still very young. Searage hasn’t had him day in and day out yet.
No reason to give up a potential #1 unless you smell bust. It’s easier to teach command than to throw 100 mph with a sick curveball.
He’s one of their top prospects, you really don’t think they’ve had searge work with him on his command issues? And pitchers don’t really tend to learn command, its more about refining and repeating mechanics.
If you honestly think that Searge is some miracle worker that can fix him, then fine. But haven’t the pirates had plenty of pitchers come through their team that didn’t get fixed? Potential 1 is a very aggressive projection, especially since scouts seem down on him due to those command/control issues. You think that Glasnow is gonna be a top 10ish mlb pitcher as soon as next year?
I don’t think Quintana is a top 10 MLB pitcher. Off the top of my head, I doubt he’s top 20. The Mets have 3 better. The Nationals have 2. The Cubs have 2. The Red Sox have 3 better. Etc.
Glasnow’s ceiling is Noah Syndergaard.
Like I said, unless I realize he’s a bust (bad spin rate on his fastball like Giolito, for example) I don’t trade him. Period.
At worst, he could be an elite bullpen arm.
Well Q was 4th in the American League for WAR this year. He was 8 th in the American League last year. So it’s a no brainer to say he is a top 20 pitcher. And one could argue his value is top 10 cause of his friendly contract.
Kershaw
Bumgardner
Sale
Price
Syndergaard
DeGrom
Arrieta
Lester
Scherzer
Kluber
Which of these guys is coming out of the top 10 to put Jose Quintana in?
Hamels, Darvish, Harvey, Cueto and a lot of guys I’d take over JQ aren’t on that list even.
I’d take Q over degrom
Forwhomjishbelltolls knowsccrap about the game of Baseballs. You’re Q isn’t top 10 or even 20 is assanine, buddy.
Get DeGrom off the list…how many innings did he pitch? And if you read my whole post I said he is top 20. His great contract puts him too 10. Cause out of those guys how many of them are making under 40 mil for the next for years? #contractmatters.
The first list Google brought up is by CBS Sports lists JQ at #23. Argue with them.
Will you claim that JQ is the difference between the Pirates being realistic and legitimate WS contenders or not?
Because if not and contract matters, Glasnow makes $500,000 or so.
JQ being a really good #2 doesn’t make the Pirates contenders.
But Glasnow being a legit #1 might.
Pretty easy to argue! The list you are using is BEFORE the 2016 season which has..
Greinke 4.
Felix 8
The RIP Fernandez 10
DeGrom 13
And so on…
Maybe you should trade Glasnow for the guy who is 10th on your great list.
So yes, he is top 20
He’s #19. I stand corrected. If a few more guys die, he can be top 10.
Yes or no?
Does getting Quintana make the Pirate legit contenders?
I don’t mean “if they get every break along the way it could happen” contenders.
Legit “right there with the Cubs and Indians and Red Sox or just below with the Nats and Dodgers, etc” contenders?
If not, it’s not a trade they should make.
No..he is better than 19. I just stopped when your rankings included a dead guy ( no disrespect to Fernandez who I loved to watch pitch ).
I really don’t care if you don’t want to trade prospects for Q or for anyone else. My argument is with anyone who doesn’t think Q is a top 20 pitcher. And I will argue his contract puts his value in the top 10.
Bum garner is a better pitcher than Q, no argument. But I can argue that Q and his 9 million a year contract has more value than Bumgarner and his 34.5 million a year contract.
If you want to use his contract to say JQ has more value than another great #2 like Strasburg or Greinke, so be it.
But some players are worth whatever the price, in money and/or prospects.
Bumgardner, who can literally carry a team to a title, is one of them.
If the Pirates had emptied the farm to get Chris Sale, I would have been OK with that.
Sale could match up against almost anyone in that wild card game. He could keep you close enough to win the division if the Cubs stumble.
But the drop from that level to the next one is steep and it’s only worth it for a team like the Astros that is right there to overpay for a non-ace.
JQ is very good and I expect a team to give up a lot for him. I just don’t want it to be my team.
Glasnow will benefit from his wildness like Nolan Ryan, stay the course with this kid he’s the real deal.
Didn’t you just compare Glasnow to Nolan Ryan?
Or he’ll never throw strikes and end up in Korea like the other guys who throw hard but wild.
Let’s say Sabathia really is healthy enough to play five more years. He had 3 bWAR, 9 W & 152 K this year. Let’s give him:
2017: 2.5 bWAR, 10 W, 130 K
2018: 2 bWAR, 10 W, 120 K
2019: 2 bWAR, 8 W, 100 K
2020: 1.5 bWAR, 8 W, 100 K
2021: 1.5 bWAR, 8 W, 100 K
I can’t imagine a full year of CC does much worse than 8 W, 100 K, 1.5 bWAR.
If he does that – not an incredibly ask – he’d have 67.2 bWAR, 267 pitcher wins & 3276 strikeouts, the last figure near the top-10 ever (actually 12th). He would have a significantly stronger HoF case than he currently does. As of now, he’s pretty borderline, propped up by his K’s (22nd all-time) & Cy Young. At 223 W & 2726 K, 250 and 3000 seems like must-haves if he wants to be a HoFer.
I don’t see the Sox getting a better deal than was already offerd, if anything they will have to take less the longer they wait. Next year there will be better free agents available.
Except all those free agents will want 20-30 million a year.
Teams rather hand out money than prospects
Teams with a lot of money like the Yankees and Cubs, sure. Pittsburgh, not so much at that price.
Pittsburgh doesnt want to do either. Which is why they are stuck where they are.
Or all teams involved are playing a game to try to get him for less than he’s worth. And the White Sox are trying to get more by playing teams off each other. That’s how this generally works… Trades generally don’t come together as quickly as you seem to think. They aren’t “stuck.”
That’s not what I was referring to at all. Reread.
You’re right. I misread your last post.
Yeah, all two of them…Jake Arrieta and Yu Darvish who may or may not be better than Jose Quintana. Maybe Johnny Cueto joins them as an opt-out. Masahiro Tanaka also has an opt-out but would be foolish to walk away from $67MM guaranteed from 2018-2020 with his arm concerns.
Next offseasons free agent market for starting pitching will trump this past one but it’s not going to diminish Jose Quintana’s value if he’s still available…not when he’ll still have 3 years of team control remaining for just south of $31MM.
Arrieta and Darvish may be out there. Sale and Bumgarner have club options so their out. Tanaka can opt out but if he did it would be just to get a better deal from New York.
Other than that not much to look at,
Not sure why it’s only to get a better deal with ny and Cueto can opt out and danny duffy is a fa
Yeah, Duffy was an oversight on my part. Maybe it’s me misremembering
but wasn’t pitching for the Yankees his dream?
Well I think we can safely assume that Arrieta will be looking for a monster contract based on past performance, everything we’ve heard thus far, and who his agent is.
I’m sure Darvish will be looking for top dollar as well based on what he has done while on the field, but unfortunately, he hasn’t proven to be reliable in staying on the field. He might get it if he pitches a full season this year, but it’d be a huge risk for somebody.
As far as the opt-out guys, they are set to make roughly $22 mil/yr each (2018-2020 for Tanaka; 2018-2022 for Cueto). Unless something goes terribly wrong in their respective organizations, I don’t see them opting out unless they know for a fact they’re going to get $25+ mil per year.
Duffy may be the only “affordable” option out of the bunch, but that’s because he’s really not that good of a starter… He’s SIGNIFICANTLY better as a bullpen piece. Heck, even in 2014 when he had an ERA of 2.53, that came with a significantly higher FIP of 3.83 (3.92 as a starter; 2.29 as a reliever). In 2015, his FIP was 4.65 as a starter and 0.97 as a reliever. Last year he was at 3.99 as a starter and 2.37 as a reliever. He looks like a #3 starter at best.
Even with all of those guys potentially on the market, Quintana’s value will still be high based on his production and contract (assuming he stays healthy). No, it will not be higher because of the free agent pitchers like one guy suggested, but it’ll be far from completely depleted like others seem to think. And again, even if they don’t trade him this year or next, he’ll still have a ton of value the following year (with 2 years of control left) and in his walk year. The only way the White Sox completely strikeout on this is if he goes down with a major injury before they inevitably move him, which I pray to God doesn’t happen.
July 28, 2017…imagine it, just 3 games separate the Rangers, Astros, & M’s in the standings. Now Q is cruising along doing well on the south side, which of those 3 teams calls the Sox first? Hahn tells them what it will take for Q, no negotiations yes or no. Which team just overpaid for Q?
Hopefully the Astros. Mariners farm system is depleted and Texas system doesn’t really interest me much unless you pull from the major league roster, which won’t happen.
Astros call first. They’re the only ones with an interesting farm system. I could see DiPoto swinging a 3-team trade, though. He’s nothing if not an aggressive trader.
Price is too high, the Astros should move on, they have 5 major league starters already and one of their many prospects or Devensky will step up if one of them can’t go or has a bad spring.
Next offseason has a lot more quality starter FAs so there will be rentals at midseason, if need be.
Sox added Quintana to the Fan Fest Jan 27, now on the clock for 10 days or less to trade(or wait) This article only implies offers have gone up. Not sure I believe that coming from someone who has a horse in the show as he covers the Sox and will put it out there as told true or not. Don’t see Pirates offering more than Glasnow, Newman, Diaz (maybe) and Keller. Might throw in Craig as he is projected to 1b and Bell will be covering first for Bucco’s this year. McCutcheon will be traded next year and Meadows brought up to play left or right field as Marte is taking over center. While contract is team friendly Quintana is not Sale or Eaton, asking King’s ransom not a sure deal. 800 innings over last 4 years is dangerous, could result in injury (not out of the question) Pirates have made it a point to skip starts or replace once in while to keep inning count down. Lot more going on than meets the eye. Will be fun to watch it play out..
Quintana is definitely not Eaton………he is better. If you inserted Bell among the 4 names instead of Glasnow, that would be intriguing. Perhaps not entirely fair to judge off last year at young age with the command issues, but too risky as a centerpiece. Could be “fool’s gold” that hope Hahn does not bite on. Already concerned about Giolito perhaps being an overhyped tease,. Keller, on the other hand,sounds like the real deal worth waiting on 2-3 years to go along with the 3 potential everyday players Sox really need (why they are in the position of trading 2 best TOR pitchers out there this offseason).
Poor guy hasnt gotten any run support since he’s been in a Sox uniform. Whomever steps up & lands Q is getting a super teammate, great competitor & someone who would have won 16-20 games the last 4 years had he been on a team that hits. He keeps his team in games by almost never surrendering more than 3 runs per start, his stuff makes him no better than a solid #2 though. His durability for a possible suitor is more intriguing than his team friendly contract Hope he gets traded to a contender
There’s been talk about teams potentially sweetening deals for Quintana; I believe it’s possible that if the reverse can be done, the White Sox may be able to obtain additional prospects while providing major additional help for their trading partners as well. Hopefully, a win-win would result
As I see it, these teams may be in the market for in need for Quintana: Astros, Pirates, Yankees, Dodgers, Braves, Rockies, and Cubs. Other teams would, of course, be interested in Quintana because of his quality, consistency, & his team-friendly contract; however, they likely wouldn’t have the prospects or urgency to trade with the White Sox at this point.
In trading Quintana, the Sox are looking at a similar haul compared to that received for Sale, which was MLB Prospect#1 (Moncada), MLB Prospect #30 (Kopech), and players in the top 10 (Basabe) and top 30 (Diaz) of their particular teams depending upon the quality of their teams’ minor league system.
While the Astros and Pirates have good systems, the Astros have stronger minor league outfield than infield depth while the reverse is true for the Pirates.; this would partially explain the reluctance of the Astros and Pirates to trade guys like Bregman and Meadows respectively. Perhaps the White Sox could help cushion the blow by adding Abreu to the picture? Here are four trade options:
For the Astros, I’m looking at potential trades with or without Bregman–it’s clearly understandable why they’d want to hold on to their young budding star. For Quintana I’d say they would ask for only 3 prospects, not 4, including Bregman in the deal. Bregman has already proven he could handle major league pitching (albeit in a relatively small sample size) and may actually rank ahead of Moncada if he were still rookie-eligible.
(1) With Bregman, the Sox may ask for SP Francis Martes (#29 MLB prospect) and OF Ramon Laureano (#28 Astro prospect).
(2) Without Bregman, the Sox may add OF Kyle Tucker (#50 MLB) and 1B/DH AJ Reed (#91 MLB prior to last year) to Martes and Laureano.
(3) What if the White Sox add Abreu along with Quintana? It’s possible the Astros would be willing to relinquish Bregman, Martes, Tucker, Laureano and Reed, especially if the White Sox decide to throw in another reliever like Dan Jennings who had a 2.08 ERA last year.
(4) Of course, there’s a possibility that the Astros still wouldn’t trade Bregman away; if that’s the case, they might be willing to add to the #3 deal P David Paulino (MLB #70) and 1B/3B J.D. Davis (Astros #11) to the #3 deal in lieu of Bregman.
Hypothetically, the Astros lineup would be extremely potent if they chose option 4—keep in mind that Abreu’s locked in through 2019 with a relatively affordable contract—none of the players the Astros are expected to play integral roles for 2017 for the big club. Don’t forget that Abreu’s the only MLB’er who’s hit over.290 with at least 100 RBI in each of the last 3 seasons. Also, even with all these guys traded, the Astros would still have a solid system including Top #100 players Forrest Whitley (P), Derek Fisher, (OF), and other top prospects such as Daz Cameron (OF), Garrett Stubbs Franklin Perez (P), Teoscar Hernandez (OF), etc.
The Astros projected 2017 lineup would include OF George Springer, 3B Alex Bregman, 2B Jose Altuve, 1B Jose Abreu, SS Carlos Correa, DH Carlos Beltran, OF Yulieski Gurriel, (OF) Josh Reddick, C Brian McCann.
The Astros starting rotation could read something like: Dallas Keuchel, Jose Quintana, Lance McCullers, Joe Musgrave, and either Mike Fiers or Charlie Morton (or even Chris Devenski).
The Astros would have enough firepower & rotation depth to easily win their division & contend with the likes of the Red Sox and Indians for the next several years.
The White Sox, with the #4 trade, could have a potential roster in 2019 including
C Zach Collins, 1B Jameson Fisher, 2B Yoan Moncada, SS Tim Anderson, 3B J.D. Davis, DH A.J. Reed, OF Kyle Tucker, OF Luis Alexander Basabe, OF Ramon Laureano.
Rotation to include a combination of Carlos Rodon, Lucas Giolito, Francis Mertes, Michael Kopech, Reynaldo Lopez, Carson Fulmer, David Paulino, Alec Hanson, & Jordan Stephens (the guys who wouldn’t make the rotation, if successful, could either be traded for future upgrades or be significant cogs in the bullpen along with the likes of Zach Burdi, Nate Jones, and Victor Diaz).
Similar potential deals with Pirates (options 3 and 4 also include Jose Abreu and (OF) Adam Engel (White Sox #12):
(1) SP Tyler Glasnow (MLB #8), Austin Meadows (MLB #9), and Elias Diaz (Pirates #9)
(2) Glasnow, 2B Kevin Newman (MLB #42), 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes (Pirates #6), and Diaz.
(3) Glasnow, Meadows, 1B Josh Bell (MLB #20), Diaz, and Hayes.
(4) Glasnow, Bell, Diaz, Newman, Hayes, P Mitch Keller (MLB #72), and P Trevor Hearn (Pirates #21)
I consider Glasnow pretty interchangeable with Keller, as I believe Keller is vastly underrated at 72 while Glasnow is a bit overrated.
All other suggestions are with Quintana solely since each of these teams appear set with 1B presently (with a bit of a question mark with Bird for the Yankees):
Yankees Option 1: OF Clint Frazier (15), 2B Gleyber Torres (#17)/Jorge Mateo (#18), OF Blake Rutherford (MLB #51)
(2): Frazier, Torres/Mateo, P Domingo Acevedo (Yankees #8), and OF Dustin Fowler (Yankees #13)
For the Dodgers, Option 1: 1B Cody Bellinger (MLB #32), P Jose DeLeon (#33), and OF Alex Verdugo (MLB #46)
Option 2: DeLeon, Verdugo, Yusniel Diaz( MLB #91), and 3B Edwin Rios (Dodgers #25)
For the Braves:
SS/2B Ozzie Albies (#12), P Kolby Allard (#61), SS/3B Kevin Maitan (#91), Ronald Acuna (Braves #18). There’s a very high ceiling with this list of players but also a very low floor due to their extreme youth.
For the Rockies:
3B Brandon Rogers (MLB #6), SP Riley Pint (#39), OF Raimel Tapia (MLB #71), 1B Brian Mundell (Rockies #29)
For the Cubs:
OF Eloy Jimenez (MLB #29), P Dylan Cease (MLB #97), 3B Jeimer Candelaria (MLB #100), OF Donnie DeWees (Cubs #11)..
I don’t really see a deal with the Cubs, though, that’d satisfy both parties.