The Braves have released outfielder Carlos Quentin, according to the team’s MLB.com transactions page. Quentin and his agents at CAA will now be able to field offers from any interested clubs.
Atlanta acquired Quentin from the Padres in the Craig Kimbrel blockbuster and promptly designated him for assignment. The Braves’ agreement to acquire Quentin boiled down to little more than financial maneuvering; his inclusion in the trade was necessary to offset some of the salary headed to the Padres with the salaries of Kimbrel and, especially, Melvin Upton Jr. The Braves will pay the 32-year-old Quentin $8MM in 2015, minus the pro-rated portion of the league minimum for as long as he’s on a new team’s active roster.
Quentin was, at one point, an All-Star and even an MVP candidate with the White Sox — he finished fifth in the 2008 voting when he belted 36 home runs — but injuries have long plagued him and reduced his ability to produce even when healthy. Quentin has appeared in just 218 games over the past three seasons, primarily due to knee problems. Those issues have caused his defense, which was never his strong suit in the first place, to deteriorate to the point where he’s best-suited for an American League club that can give him some at-bats as a designated hitter.
Teams with a need for some right-handed pop off the bench or a part-time DH figure to be interested in Quentin despite his injuries. With the exception of last year, Quentin has long posted strong numbers at the plate. From 2008-13, he batted .260/.356/.503, averaging 35 homers per 162 games played. Unfortunately for the White Sox and Padres — the two teams for which he played during that stretch — Quentin averaged just 108 games per season in those six years.
Greinke should serve a sentence for throwing a baseball 95 MPH at his head? This is a 2 way street, but its baseball, get over it.
The upside of a healthy Quentin will get him a MiLB deal from an AL team within a week.
Quentin is a notorious plate-crowder. He was 100% in the wrong in that one, sorry.
Doesn’t mean he has to just put up with getting beamed in the shoulder by someone he had a history with.
Uh, it kinda does. He’s spent like his entire career in the same division as Greinke, he’s naturally going to get hit by him at a disproportionate rate. If Quentin takes up a beef with every guy who plunks him a few times he’s going to be enemies with most pitchers in the league.
Grienke did it on-purpose. It was clearly evident. Quentin overreacted, but that happens at times. Greinke even said something to him. Greinke was looking for a fight. Both are at fault.
I don’t think Greinke is the type of player to throw at someone with a full count in a 1 run ballgame, but that’s just me
Well, it certainly looked like it. I believe something happened the night before too. I’m sure Quentin never meant to injure him as badly as he did, but had Grienke hit him in the head, an even more serious injury could’ve occurred.
Yeah and you’re wrong.
Yeah it’s just a coincidence Quentin led the majors in HBP in just half a season’s worth of games, Greinke obviously has it out for him
You don’t stare down a guy you hit by accident, the whole incident is well documented and Greinke didn’t discourage Quentin from charging the mound when he thought he was throwing at him. Greinke should have never started walking towards Quentin after Quentin was checking to see how Greinke reacted to beaning him. He supposedly said something to him during this which which is what set Quentin off.
Greinke has thrown behind or over Quentin’s head twice. His head.
Doesn’t mean you can ASSAULT SOMEONE.
A baseball fight is a baseball fight.. if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen. Don’t hit a guy if you can’t handle what comes after… thats just common logic.
Pretty much, Greinke thought he could take Quentin obviously when he started staring Quintin down and started walking towards him after the plunking. He deserves what he got in my book, it wasn’t self defense at all. He provoked a fight with a guy who was in a different weight class and deservedly got his.
Quentin crowds the plate so he can get to the outside pitch; Greinke is certainly a unique kind of hothead – he encouraged Quentin to charge the mound, which seems absurd because Quentin is a huge person and Greinke is not. Quentin gets hit a lot by pitches, but he doesn’t charge the mound after every one. That night obviously something more was going on.
Eh, Quentin has been a pin-cushion for pitches in his career, he set a minor league record in ’04 with 42 XBP, and has continually been hit a lot, 17 times in 86 played games in ’12,ect.,look into it. It’s easy to understand his anger, particularly in a division rivalry game. I doubt he was intending to injure him that severely, just blow off some steam and stand his ground.
I’d kinda like to see the White Sox bring him back on a minor league deal. Insurance incase Abreu or LaRoche get hurt where he can step into DH.
I could see that happening. A righthanded hitting dh against tough lefties for Adam LaRoche and a late game pinch hitter.
Both players were at fault in that scenario, and both have had documented history against each other. As well, Greinke has been known to throw at people, and Quentin doesn’t get out of the way. It was a perfect situation for anger, and a fight. To not call both of them goons would be extremely bias.
Greinke was clearly not trying to hit him. It was on a 3-2 count in a 1 run game. Quentin committed a crime, he assaulted Greinke. He should have gotten a charge.
If Greinke felt a crime had been committed, he could have filed a criminal suit/pressed charges, but he didn’t. So as far as the world is concerned, no crime was committed and it’s a non-issue.
Well, maybe next time Greinke shouldn’t yell at him and throw a ball at his head. Then, you know, he wouldn’t look as bad. I’m sorry, but Greinke is at fault just as much as Quentin. It was just like the Gregg-Ortiz fight a few years back, only nobody thankfully ended up injured. If Greinke hit Quentin on the head purposely as he was trying to do, it could’ve been even worse than a broken collarbone.
If Carlos doesn’t get out of the way of bad throws then he would be a perfect fit for the Royals right now. His OBP would be extremely high because of the HBP factor.
When has a player ever been charged with assault for starting a fight on the field?
They should be but the law is for those who are not rich, famous, or enforcement.
Who could say with a straight face Marichal or Quentin would not be charged in a street context?
If this was a “street context” would you include people throwing rocks or whatever at Marichal/Quentin? It’s not as if Marichal/Quentin charged for absolutely no reason.
No since the street has a designated throwing area and no proof of intentional assault.
There is not a doubt the charge is intentional.
I’m sure the guy will get a call at some point, it may take an injury, but there’s bound to be an AL team looking for a bench bat/part time DH with some power in season.
Texas seems like a good fit; up until last season Quentin has always hit, and if he’s healthy he’ll probably hit again. Texas just lost its left fielder, Choo is hurt again and the DH is Mitch Moreland. All it would cost is the major-league minimum. Other than that, maybe Baltimore? Quentin’s probably better than Young.
I wonder if he fits with the Royals right now since Rios is on the DL?
Not at all. They already have a DH. They would never stick Quentin in the OF during a game that counts.
Try the Indians. They don’t have any RH hitting. They don’t care about defense. And they love taking on injured players that are past their prime but have the majority of their contracts paid for by other teams.
LoCain can cover a lot of ground! I would not expect Quentin to be a starter for the Royals but he could spell Gordon in Left and pinch hit for Dyson late in games.
They have Orlando.
And I would love to see Orlando do well, but he has less than 10 MLB at bats and only once in the minors did he have a BA over .300. That is a lot to expect out of the guy. Again a league minimum pick up that could hit you 10-20 homers this year makes sense to me. What you hope is that he never plays because everybody stays healthy, but baseball is a grind and the more depth you have the better. Quentin has more value to me on the Royals 25 man roster than Gore does, I guess that is my point in all this.
nice username!
This is a nice opportunity for the Rangers.
woow this is good free agent baseball fans carlos still has power in his bat watch for the mets nats or bluejays pick him up.
Where would the Jays put him ? Pillar is better than Quentin at this point imo
will see quentin still has a great bat pillar but he might get traded.