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Giants Designate Jose Quintana For Assignment

By Anthony Franco | September 30, 2021 at 6:02pm CDT

The Giants announced they’ve reinstated first baseman Darin Ruf and right-hander Johnny Cueto from the injured list before this evening’s game against the Diamondbacks. In corresponding moves, left-hander Tony Watson landed on the 10-day injured list due to a strain in his throwing shoulder, while fellow southpaw José Quintana was designated for assignment.

The transactions series likely ends Quintana’s time in San Francisco after just a few weeks. The Giants claimed Quintana off waivers from the Angels at the end of August, absorbing the approximate $1.5MM remaining on his contract to add him just before the deadline for players to be eligible for teams’ postseason rosters.

Picking up Quintana didn’t work out quite as planned. He made five relief appearances with San Francisco, working 9 2/3 innings of five-run ball. The 32-year-old punched out twelve batters in that limited time, but also issued six walks and was tagged for three home runs. Evidently, the front office determined they were content with their other lefty bullpen options — even as Watson lands on the IL — to let Quintana go before the start of the postseason.

Quintana will almost certainly wind up hitting free agency in the next couple days, either via release or rejection of an outright assignment. He’ll hit the open market coming off a disappointing season. Signed by Los Angeles to a one-year, $8MM deal in free agency, he was bumped from the rotation after posting a 7.22 ERA through his first nine starts. He didn’t find much more success in relief, posting a 5.52 ERA from that point forward between the Angels and Giants.

It was an atypical season for Quintana, who has offered quality production over the course of his career. He was quietly one of the game’s better starters for a few seasons with the White Sox, leading to a blockbuster crosstown deal that sent him to the Cubs in 2017. That trade — which sent Eloy Jiménez and Dylan Cease to the South Siders — quickly proved regrettable for the Cubs, but Quintana did at least offer consistent innings and useful production for much of his time in Wrigleyville.

He lost most of last season due to injury, though, and his 6.43 ERA this year is by far the highest of his career. That’s been driven by personal-worst walk and home run rates, but Quintana has curiously been better than ever before at missing bats. He’s punched out 28.6% of opposing hitters on the strength of an 11.9% swinging strike rate; both marks are career-highs and above the league average. That extreme production came into play even before Quintana was moved to the pen, as he’d fanned 30.1% of batters faced over his first nine starts.

With Quintana and Watson out of the picture, the Giants look likely to enter the playoffs with Jarlin García and José Álvarez as lefty relief options. Manager Gabe Kapler didn’t rule Watson out for the entire postseason when speaking with reporters (including Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area), but it at least seems he’d miss the Division Series if the club advanced to that point. Acquired from the Angels at the trade deadline, Waston has posted a 2.96 ERA over 24 1/3 frames with San Francisco.

Ruf looks likely to assume the bulk of the playing time at first base moving forward. Brandon Belt fractured his left thumb after being hit by a pitch over the weekend, and that injury could cost him most or all of the team’s playoffs. Like so much of the roster, Ruf has excelled when given the opportunity this year. Through 300 plate appearances, he owns a .268/.387/.512 line with fifteen home runs. Belt’s injury could force the Giants to deploy Ruf more against right-handed pitching than they have so far, but he’s more than held his own in limited action against righties while absolutely mashing southpaws.

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San Francisco Giants Transactions Darin Ruf Johnny Cueto Jose Quintana Tony Watson

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44 Comments

  1. Datashark

    4 years ago

    Well Jose is still eligible for a WS ring – Forever 2021 Giant

    Reply
  2. jdgoat

    4 years ago

    If he could figure something out over the winter he could be a pretty good reliever moving forward. He seems to have developed quite the strikeout pitch that he never used to have but not the results to go with it.

    6
    Reply
    • stymeedone

      4 years ago

      So…if he learns how to pitch better, he could still be less than the quality starter he used to be?

      Reply
  3. kellin

    4 years ago

    Its funny to me how often teams pick up pitchers as reclamation projects, but how rarely they actually work out. It was really not that much money with which to experiment.

    1
    Reply
    • Baseball 1600

      4 years ago

      Well thankfully for the Giants, Wood, DeSclafani, Leone, and Jarlin Garcia all worked out pretty well.

      8
      Reply
      • giantsphan12

        4 years ago

        @baseball 1600, yes they have. And Quintana wasn’t a total waste. He ate up a few key innings and with such a tight race for our division, those were innings actually truly mattered. Overall, a good pick up in my opinion, and a good time to let him go as well.

        7
        Reply
    • mister guy

      4 years ago

      it actually did work out, he had pretty much one bad outing but was able to help lock down a few bullpen games. I don’t think the giants brass ever saw him as a replacement starter or a long term option.

      1
      Reply
  4. some guy 2

    4 years ago

    What happened to him? He was great with The Sox. Average to putrid since.

    2
    Reply
    • iverbure

      4 years ago

      As pitchers get older they lose velo and since nobody knows how to pitch anymore they lose their effectiveness. That’s why you don’t want your favourite team to ever sign a free agent pitcher for more than one year.

      1
      Reply
      • jdgoat

        4 years ago

        It’s amazing that no team has brought you on to be their GM yet.

        15
        Reply
      • Sideline Redwine

        4 years ago

        Ever!

        Lol sure

        Reply
      • some guy 2

        4 years ago

        He was 28 when he was traded to the Cubs and no injury history. He should have still been in his prime. But the results were average at best. And after the Cubs…. Yeesh.

        Reply
    • prov356

      4 years ago

      What happened to him is he spent time in the Angels organization where pitching careers go to die.

      7
      Reply
      • Halo11Fan

        4 years ago

        Prov356. He was bad long before the Angels… You didn’t notice?

        Well, some of us noticed. It was a very poor signing.

        Reply
        • prov356

          4 years ago

          I never paid attention. I was mostly bagging on the Angels in general.

          2
          Reply
        • Halo11Fan

          4 years ago

          All off-season I bagged on the way they handled the bullpen and wasn’t happy with the Starting Pitchers they brought in either.

          I’m pretty happy with a lineup of Trout, Rendon, Stassi, Ohtani, Marsh, Adell and Walsh. Fletcher is serviceable. Upton is fine as a 4th outfielder. Only Shortstop is an issue, but an issue they are likely to fill.

          They need to get a bullpen, add a starter, and remain relatively healthy.

          Reply
        • prov356

          4 years ago

          Halo – Do you think Adell could benefit from some more time at AAA? I agree Upton plays at the level of a 4th outfielder but man that’s a tough way to spend 28m. With Thaiss now as a potential backup catcher, we need a good SS and at least 2 solid starters and a slew of good BP arms.

          Reply
        • Halo11Fan

          4 years ago

          I think Adell is fine. He’s so coachable. He’s a good, talented kid. He adjusts quickly.

          Reply
    • Halo11Fan

      4 years ago

      He hasn’t been good for a few years now. It was a very poor signing by the Angels.

      1
      Reply
    • Gothamcityriddler

      4 years ago

      Great at what? He bamboozled the cubbies, the angels, the giants & now you. Ahahahaha!

      Reply
      • some guy 2

        4 years ago

        I said he was great with the Sox and average to putrid since. Do we are basically in agreement. I just wanted to know what happened to him.

        Reply
    • citizen

      4 years ago

      Never that good to begin with. Not lights out. Mediocre 4th/5th starter, ate up some innings. Had more of a career like Irwin Santana, but no bounce back season.

      Reply
    • Dumpster Divin Theo

      4 years ago

      He got Cub’d

      Reply
      • ChiSox_Fan

        4 years ago

        Cubs will dive into the dumpster and sign “Q” again!!

        Reply
    • ChiSox_Fan

      4 years ago

      No pitching coach as good as Sox’s Cooper!

      Reply
  5. tedtheodorelogan

    4 years ago

    Losing Watson hurts.

    7
    Reply
  6. Baller4mlb

    4 years ago

    Pirates. Long overdue

    Reply
  7. Dorothy_Mantooth

    4 years ago

    I’m willing to bet we haven’t seen the last of a productive Quintana. While he’ll probably have to settle for a minor league contract this offseason, I could see a team like Pittsburg signing him, he finds some of his old magic and he gets flipped to a contender prior to the deadline. Or better yet, Tampa signs him and he ends up pitching like Lance Lynn for them for the entire season!

    3
    Reply
    • rocky7

      4 years ago

      Exactly what “old magic” are you speaking of…..the .500 record (analytics guys will scream).
      This guy may have been a middle of the rotation guy at one point, but asking him to reclaim his “magic” is a real reach since he never really had any “magic”!

      Reply
      • ChiSox_Fan

        4 years ago

        Sox seldom scored runs for Q.
        Hence, the .500 WL record.

        Reply
      • Yoyosoxsox

        4 years ago

        Yeah no he was damn good for the sox.a pitcher any team would love to have.he had to have so of your so called magic to give up eloy and Dylan I would think.

        1
        Reply
      • Prunella Vulgaris

        4 years ago

        He pitched well with the Sox. Either the lineup wouldn’t score for him, or the bullpen would blow it.

        Reminded me of Joel Horlen.

        Reply
    • Pete'sView

      4 years ago

      I think the Giants made a mistake DFAing him. I’d much rather Quintana than Kazmir. THis move doesn’t make sense.

      Reply
      • mister guy

        4 years ago

        roster crunch, his DFA makes 39 and there is a guy coming off the IL that is going to need protection from the rule 5

        Reply
        • Pete'sView

          4 years ago

          So Kazmir’s not on the 40 man?

          Reply
  8. atuck_sfg

    4 years ago

    Reclamation projects are hard this late in the season, especially with the position the Giants are in. Bet if the pitching coaches had more time with him they could help figure him out, but at this point there’s no more time, unfortunate.

    2
    Reply
  9. Sideline Redwine

    4 years ago

    The Cubs fan in me can only think of Eloy Jimenez when I hear that name. Cubs would have been better off getting Carlos Quintana.

    2
    Reply
  10. rocky7

    4 years ago

    Wasn’t that long ago that Chisox fans RAVED about how Quintana was an ACE……just goes to show, that time, not a couple of so so seasons define the really great ones.

    Reply
  11. milla

    4 years ago

    Losing Watson is a much greater concern than Quintana. Still Cueto showed tonight he might be able to handle some relief work.
    Pulling tonight’s game out in the 9th is a huge godsend by reducing the magic number to two! If the Dodgers can be relegated to the WC game, that just might be enough to soften their starting pitching up and win the Division Series. Of course, an upset by the Cards would be a better result. Aside from Wainwright, the Cards starters are not nearly as daunting as the Dodgers.

    1
    Reply
    • Gmen777

      4 years ago

      It hurts but the Giants still have Garcia, Alvarez and hopefully McGee for lefties. Giants bullpen is deep.

      2
      Reply
    • Not a clever name

      4 years ago

      Honestly having had 3 WS since 2010, I’d rather lose a good division series to the dodgers then win one against the cards this year, of course I would really like to see the Giants win a division series vs the bums, but my point is that’s the series I want to see regardless of who may be the easier opponent.

      Reply
  12. johnnieleeboo

    4 years ago

    Hold on.
    It’s playoff time. So teams have commenced lying through their teeth about injuries.
    (Even worse than the regular season)
    Didn’t somebody post that Watson’s ailment was a recurrence of a chronic problem? That wouldn’t have gone unnoticed til now. Tampa’s not the only team that was allocating IL “vacays” to the pitchers, Maybe Farhan felt the time wasn’t right..
    Even if a short bullpen for the five-game NLDS is the result, an extra bench bat roster slot might be the result. Now if a team happened to have a really great first base glove man who might not be able to hit, although he could work a walk, they could cover it using that slot..
    If he refused to throw, he could just tape “Garvey” over the name on his back and go on his merry way.
    One way or another, unless it’s an Early Out for the Giants, we’ll see Watson and Belt again.
    You won’t hear from me again on this.
    If I’m wrong..

    1
    Reply
    • Not a clever name

      4 years ago

      I’m hoping for a game five walk off HR by Belt with a Gibson like fist pump around the bases, then I will go die in my sleep as my life will pretty much be complete.

      Reply
  13. Yoyosoxsox

    4 years ago

    Yeah no he was damn good for the sox.a pitcher any team would love to have.he had to have so of your so called magic to give up eloy and Dylan I would think.

    Reply

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