Jose Quintana could bring a fierce presence to the New York Yankees’ rotation but it would come at a price that is more than hazardous.
With ongoing rumors constantly swirling that the New York Yankees are on a hunt for Jose Quintana, it would serve the organization well if they analyze and nothing else.Yes, even in spite of the fact that the 27-year old has been out of this world for a few years now.
Last season, the southpaw went 13-12 with a 3.20 ERA while his 208 innings of work — something no Yankee starter has accomplished since 2013 — earned him an All-Star appearance and a tenth place finish in the AL CY-Young award voting.
Since making his major league debut on May 7, 2012, at age 23, the southpaw has totaled 951 innings and since 2013 only Corey Kluber, Chris Sale, R.A. Dickey and David Price have pitched in more innings than Quintana.
Additionally, he is the only starter in the American League to toss 200 or more innings in each of the past four seasons.
Beyond his rubber arm, he has managed a solid 3.29 ERA in that same time frame and comes with a manageable price of $36.85 million over the next four years.
Yes, he fits the “win now and build for the future” plan, but the cost to bring him aboard is something that general manager Brian Cashman must avoid caving into.
It was reported that Cashman refuses to part with Gleyber Torres and it was also reported a week ago that he declined White Sox offer for Quintana that included Luis Severino, Jorge Mateo and the organization’s top prospect Clint Frazier.
That is frankly too much.
If the Yankees were one starter away from being legitimate World Series contenders, this may be a move worth making. After all, with the departure of Frazier, they’d still have Torres to fall back on.
Nevertheless, their last dynasty was conceived by the process the organization took to wait for the development of the young studs in the farm system.
That ended in five trips to the World Series in six years including four of the 27 titles in franchise history led by Yankees’ farmhands Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettite, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams among others.
A deal like this could put the next core’s chance of a repeat dynasty is in jeopardy.
Like Cashman has said in the past, dealing the top-notch kids for a win now type of player is downright dangerous and could destroy the promising infrastructure they have worked so hard to build.
If he were willing to do that, why wouldn’t the massive purchase be made for Chris Sale rather than Quintana?
Sure, he maintained a lower ERA than Sale over the past two seasons, but if you were to ask me who I’d rather have in an elimination game, the answer is Sale ten times out of ten.
On the other side, the team control on Quintana and looming opt-out of Masahiro Tanaka will assure the Yankees’ some stability that they’ll have a quality arm on the roster if their current ace decides to pack his bags.
This is not a go for broke move and has plenty of upside, but it’s the right move at the wrong time. If the deal is right, meaning it does not include the likes of Frazier or Torres, Quintana is actually a guy worth pulling the trigger for.
Going by the return Chicago received for Chris Sale, though, New York’s top prospects might be one of the only returns sought. Then again, a three-team trade has been discussed so who really knows at this point?
In the end, Quintana is a “half way” type of move. It’ll buy them a couple more wins to help in the Wild Card race and nothing else — while conceivably delivering a low-blow to the youth movement.
Besides, if they stuck to the plan back in 2011 when Quintana was a Yankee farmhand at High-A Tampa, he would already be in the Bronx with this conversation being fictitious.
This isn’t prospect hugging. In fact, Torres and Frazier should be the only prospects in the system that are “untouchable” at this point. In a nutshell, Quintana is good, proven and worth a chunk of guys with high ceilings in return.
But, the Yankees can’t go toe-to-toe with the Boston Red Sox yet and going by their latest style of roster moves which features the addition of young players and cutting salary — a Quintana trade doesn’t seem to make sense at this moment.
