The Cardinals acquired left-hander José Quintana at the deadline and were evidently pleased with their brief relationship with him. Both Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and Jon Heyman of The New York Post mention that the Cardinals are interested in bringing Quintana back, though Heyman notes that they have competition for his services.
Quintana, 34 in January, endured a rough two-year stretch in 2020 and 2021. A thumb injury limited him to 10 innings in the former and his ERA ballooned up to 6.43 in the latter. The Pirates took a flier on him in 2022 with a $2MM deal to act as a stabilizing veteran force in their rotation of inexperienced youngsters. That plan went about as well as could have been hoped, with Quintana bouncing back and turning himself into a deadline trade chip, going to the Cardinals alongside Chris Stratton for Johan Oviedo and Malcom Nunez.
MLBTR’s Simon Hampton recently took a thorough look at Quintana’s season, which finished with a 2.93 ERA over 165 2/3 innings. Quintana’s 20.2% strikeout rate was a couple of ticks below league average, but his 46.4% ground ball rate was strong. The Cardinals are known for their defensive prowess and Quintana’s grounder-heavy approach worked better after the uniform switch, as he had a 3.50 ERA as a Pirate and 2.01 as a Cardinal.
Though it was just 12 starts, Quintana and the Cards seemed to be a good match for each other. It makes sense that there would be some mutual interest in a reunion, though the roster fit in St. Louis would be imperfect at the moment. The club already has a number of rotation candidates, including Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Jordan Montgomery, Jack Flaherty, Steven Matz and Dakota Hudson, as well as prospects like Matthew Liberatore and Zack Thompson.
Hudson had a poor year in 2022 and could be best utilized as a long man in the bullpen who could jump into the rotation in case of an injury. However, it would be harder to justify bumping any of the other five. Wainwright, Mikolas and Montgomery are all coming off solid seasons and seem to have jobs locked down. Matz had an injury marred season in 2022 but he still has three years and $34MM remaining on the four-year deal he signed with them a year ago. Given their investment, they will surely give him a chance to bounce back with better health going forward. Flaherty has been dealing with injuries over the past three seasons but pitched like an ace when he was last healthy in 2019.
As Rosenthal notes, four of these pitchers are free agents at the end of 2023: Wainwright, Mikolas, Montgomery and Flaherty. As of right now, the 2024 rotation would be Hudson and Matz, with three openings available for prospects to potentially fill. Perhaps that means they would consider signing a starter to help them now and next year, though that would likely mean they have to find a trading partner for one of those other four to create space in the short term.
Even though Quintana’s entering his age-34 season, his bounceback was solid enough that MLBTR predicted a two-year, $24MM contract for him. He’s part of a large group of mid-rotation candidates available in free agency this winter, including Ross Stripling, Nathan Eovaldi, Sean Manaea, Jameson Taillon and others. The market seems to be strong so far, as Tyler Anderson secured a three-year, $39MM deal despite having a qualifying offer attached and Zach Eflin signed a three-year, $40MM deal with the Rays, easily beating our two-year, $22MM prediction. Mike Clevinger got one year and $12MM, just ahead of our $10MM prediction, and Matthew Boyd got $10MM despite not even cracking our top 50. Though the Cardinals clearly like Quintana, the fit is a little awkward and they’re surely not the only team calling him up. The Pirates also reportedly have interest in a reunion and there’s no shortage of sensible fits beyond that. The Cards’ payroll is currently around $154MM, per Roster Resource. That’s almost even with last year’s Opening Day figure of $155MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, though the team’s president of baseball operations John Mozeliak has indicated payroll will be going up this year.
I love José Quintana, but I’m also curious if the loss of the shift will really hurt him.
It will hurt a lot of pitchers who rely on contact
Yes it will. And Quintana seemed to be a double play machine. So this may hurt him big time. It’s just the eye test though. I could be way off.
Yes, and I’m definitely interested in another reunion with Kate Upton.
Idk if I’d give him more than 2 years.
Angels are NOT interested in a reunion.
The Cardinals love their middle of the road lefties. With a good defense like they have, it works for the long season, it just doesn’t bode well for them in the playoffs when you’re facing the best lineups that can guys like Quintana look bad.
Agreed that is their approach and it hasn’t worked in the playoffs the past few years, but Quintana pitched a great game in the playoff. Marmol blew it by taking him out too soon. I would give him a 2 year deal and then get rid of Hudson if they think they have too many starters.
That said, he was really really good against the Phillies in Game 1 of the wild-card series. If the Cards’ bullpen doesn’t blow it, he’s the winning pitcher, Cardinals are up 1-0 and Phillies are a lot less likely to march to the World Series
Quintana was phenomenal in the playoffs. Perhaps you were watching a different game?
The Pirates were said to be interested in bringing Quintana back but they won’t compete with the Cardinals on price because the owner in Pittsburgh is Mr. Tightwad
Yes Man3
Already?
Considering what Matt Boyd and Eflin just signed for this guy is in line for a big payday. I’m guessing 2 years/$28M. Crazy but that seems to be the cost for starting pitching who are any good.
A lot of pitchers like Quintana did quite well before the shift became in vogue.
Bring him back
The Cardinals should know that you cannot count on the group they have now for health or success. However they may not be able to guarantee a place in the rotation for all of their possible starters. Sign Quintana if the price is reasonable. No doubt we will need him.
3 years 34 million remaining on Matz… oh boy maybe Mike Leake 2.0?
I don’t think Matz got a fair chance to prove himself. His arm and stuff looked good, just a little rust to start the season. The he got hurt, and hurt again. The knee injury was fluky. I like Matz’ chances of delivering decent value on his contract.
Leake looked like a bust from the jump. I don’t know why his ground ball heavy style didn’t play better in St. Louis, but he got pounded consistently.
If Quintana is back, Matz, Hudson and the young guys don’t make the rotation
Be better to extension to Montgomery and miles.
dump matz and mikolas
Let’s see if Flaherty can offer us some woke insight on which direction to proceed. That’s about all he can offer these days.
The Cardinals are looking ahead to 2024. With only Matz signed beyond this year (I don’t count Hudson), it makes sense to acquire a guy NOW that projects to be in your rotation then so you only have to fill three spots. I’ll withhold judgment on whether a ‘core’ of Matz and a 35 year old Quintana (whose track record isn’t very good) actually provides a base to build upon, but there’s merit in looking ahead.
I agree with Jmom though that it would make more sense to extend Montgomery and Mikolas.
2 years for 24 is a steal for Quintana just on length of contract alone
I’m fine with Quintana, but Manaea makes more sense. I wonder if this means someone (Flaherty) is already hurt. I like the idea of paying cash for depth now rather than have to deal from the farm during the season. I wouldn’t go back on the Quintana trade, but I hate losing Oviedo.
I feel the same Don… maybe Sandy Alcantara and him will eventually be similar and to the pirates to….
You had me until the Oviedo. He’s not the next alcantara. Don’t worry bud. We have depth in some ways. Actually if anything Sosa was lost on an undervalue. That man will be a major league ball player for years.
I am worried that waino, flaherty, lizard king, hudsucker proxy, matz, is our top 5 rotation. Although it’s sounds cool if you actually say it out loud. Just not for like; ya know; pitching.
Oh yeah Montgomery too. Quintana isn’t going to St Louis. Not happening unless they trade Flaherty.
Flaherty for Jansen. Straight up.
Mark it down
Then sign JQ for two years
Or Montgomery for Jansen straight. Take your pick. We need a catcher.
One of the sources linked simply said the cards have competition on Jose, I don’t think this warrants any new speculation on the signing as it seems like this is just renewing what everyone expected since the end of the season.
I kind of expected him to be pricing out of the cardinals range at the moment. I’d hate to see an overspend here, but understand why there is interest.
If 2 years for 24 million is on the table every team would be mistaken to not take that. I’m guessing it will be three or four years given the interest.
That is what the people here believe will be the contract but I think it is widely accepted that there is more demand for him than they initially expected. For this reason, I think the cardinals are not a serious destination for him anymore, unless it actually is 2/24.
I think JQ for say 3/35 would work. Use Hudson, Flaherty, Gorman, & DeJong, in some combination to get Blackburn &, either Murphy, from the As, or Kirk from the Blue Jays.