If the New York Yankees plan to pursue White Sox starter Jose Quintana, they’ll have to be prepared for some drawbacks in the process.
With zero answers to the many question marks that surround the New York Yankees‘ rotation, it’s no surprise that they are reportedly interested in Chicago White Sox starter Jose Quintana to provide an answer.The Yankees, who own five of the Top 100 prospects in baseball, fit the prototypical trade partner the White Sox are looking for, as they are bonafide sellers here in December.
After shipping Chris Sale to Boston for Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech, they’ll be looking for yet another tremendous return in young talent from the 27-year old Quintana.
After all, it’s well deserved as the former Yankees’ farmhand likely serves as the definition of “innings eater” in the dictionary.
Despite going 10-2 with a 2.91 ERA and 88 strikeouts in 12 starts (30 appearances) in 2011 during his time at High-A Tampa, the organization decided not to bring him onto the 40-man roster.
Looking back, this might be a decision that serves as a thorn to the side of Brian Cashman.
Quintana later signed a six-year Minor League deal with Chicago, one that could keep him under team control for a reasonable price until after the 2020 season.
Since making his major league debut on May 7, 2012, at age 23, the southpaw has totaled 951 innings in five years and since 2013 only Corey Kluber, Chris Sale, R.A. Dickey and David Price have pitched in more innings than Quintana.
Additionally, Quintana is the only starter in the American League to toss 200 or more innings in each of the past four seasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MICCZxwkPKg
At the very least, the 2016 All-Star has the ability to bring Joe Girardi a viable starter with the ability to go 200 innings or more — something they haven’t seen for quite some time.
In 2014, Hiroki Kuroda led the team with 199 innings pitched and the following year the six-win CC Sabathia did with 167.1. 2016 marked the third year in a row no Yankees’ starter reached the 200 mark, though Masahiro Tanaka (199.2) came close.
With that type of proven talent, it’s a no-brainer that there will be top-notch prospects on the block in order to land him.
We already mentioned the names of Kopech and Moncada — the return Chicago received from the Red Sox for Sale — and White Sox general manager Rick Hahn was all in on prying Reynaldo Lopez and Lucas Giolito from Washington.
With that, it’s not asinine to predict that Hahn would ask Cashman for Clint Frazier, Gleyber Torres or James Kaprielian.
Jorge Mateo, thanks to the surplus of shortstops prospects and Torres’ rise to fame, is a solid starting point to discuss a package, but there is a dangerous hazard of emptying major names from a farm system the Yankees worked so laboriously to construct.
Yet again, however, he may be entirely worth it.
As mentioned before, Quintana is signed through 2020 (team options for ’19/’20) for a reasonable price at $48.5 million. This is the basic young and controllable starter that the Yankees have craved all offseason.
The best part is: he’s proven with very little uncertainty about what he brings to the table — unlike the youngsters who are competing for the final two spots in this year’s rotation.
Not to mention the fact he’d be your typical no. 2 starter, unlike CC Sabathia who fits the categorization as a solid fifth option. Let alone the benefits it provides the young kids by alleviating pressure to perform now as opposed to growing into a major league star.
So, the Yankees are in a tough spot here.
Perhaps dealing a pair of young starters and Mateo would be the ideal asking price for the Bombers — as they get their starter with a “help win now” model without mortgaging the future.
Then again, how silly would it be for Cashman to mortgage that future just to see his prospects pan out while the former Yankees’ prospect he parted ways with struggles even more with the long ball at Yankee Stadium (he yielded 22 HR in 2016).
There is truly every reason to believe the Yankees would be interested in Quintana. Just look at his resume. That doesn’t mean, however, they have any plan of satisfying the White Sox’s asking price — justifiably, a large one.
