Could the veteran hurler be on his way to Atlanta?
While spring training may officially be underway, there are still a few free agents available to be snapped up on a contract. One of those players is José Quintana, who is still available after his two-year contract with the Mets expired following the 2024 season.
With the Atlanta Braves still reportedly on the lookout for starting pitching, it makes sense that Atlanta and Quintana would eventually find themselves linked in the rumor mill. That’s what happened this evening, as MLB Insider Héctor Gómez is reporting that the Braves are one of a handful of teams that are interested in the veteran hurler.
Héctor Gómez/@hgomez27 on X (formerly Twitter)
José Quintana is coming off of two seasons with the Mets where he became Accidentally Important At Work. He was thrust into pitching some important innings for New York due to circumstances like injuries and underperfomance conspiring to suddenly put him at the top of his rotation. He finished 2023 with an ERA of 3.57, an ERA- of 85, a FIP of 3.52 and a FIP- of 81 but then fell back a bit as his workload increased in 2024. Last season, his ERA and ERA- went up to 3.75 and 95, respectively but his FIP and FIP- also skyrocketed to 4.56 and 113, respectively. As a result (among other things), his fWAR went from being 1.5 over 75.1 innings pitched to being just 1.0 over 170.1 IP.
Needless to say, this wouldn’t be a massive signing for the Braves if they did go ahead and come to an agreement but it also would be a decent enough move for Atlanta when it comes to filling out the back-end of their rotation. I’d imagine that any team would gladly take a guy who can eat around 150 innings and do so without getting completely blasted at the plate the entire time. Quintana isn’t going to blow anybody away with his stuff nowadays but as long as he can continue to keep a high ground-ball rate combined with avoiding getting barreled up on a regular basis, then he’ll be just fine as an option for most teams going forward.
Héctor Gómez also reported that Quintana and the Pirates were close to coming to a deal for one year and $5.5 million. If that reporting is accurate then it makes sense that there’s going to be a bit of a bidding war for his services at that kind of money. We’ll just have to wait and see which team will be able to get a deal over a finish line and it’ll be intriguing if Quintana does end up donning a Braves uniform by the time late-March rolls around.