The Cardinals have shown at least some interest in White Sox lefty Jose Quintana, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports, though he makes clear there’s no indication that Chicago is likely to strike a deal for the lefty before the start of the season. It seems that the Cards’ interest is something worth bearing in mind as the season progresses and their rotation needs come into focus, though certainly other teams will also continually monitor the asking price for Quintana. St. Louis, of course has already lost young Alex Reyes for the year due to Tommy John surgery and will reportedly place Trevor Rosenthal on the disabled list to open the season.
Heyman also has new notes columns on both the American League and National League, and here are a few highlights from those pieces…
- Extension talks between the Indians and star shortstop Francisco Lindor do not appear to have gained much traction, per Heyman. There’s just not enough incentive for him to take a deal, Heyman suggests, due at least in part to the fact that Lindor has landed a significant marketing contract with New Balance. It’s also perhaps worth noting that Lindor received a $2.9MM signing bonus when he was drafted eighth overall back in 2011.
- The Rays are still on the hunt for outfield help, though the addition of Peter Bourjos to the organization gives them one potential fourth outfield option. Heyman lists free agent Angel Pagan and the Cubs’ Matt Szczur as speculative fits, though the out-of-options Szczur made Chicago’s Opening Day roster, which seemingly lessens the chance of a trade. Heyman also notes that the Rays “came close” to locking up right-hander Alex Cobb on an extension on multiple occasions in the past, but the deal was never quite completed. Given Cobb’s arm troubles over the past two years, perhaps that’s somewhat of a dodged bullet for the Rays (though the 29-year-old is certainly a candidate to bounce back).
- Rougned Odor’s representatives were prepping a counter-offer to the Rangers’ six-year, $49.5MM extension proposal when they were informed, firmly, that the $49.5MM sum was the team’s best and final offer, according to Heyman. Ultimately, the 22-year-old and his reps at the Beverly Hills Sports Council elected to take the deal, locking in the powerful young second baseman’s first massive payday. While there have been talks with another promising young Rangers talent, Nomar Mazara, Heyman adds that there’s “nothing substantive” between the two sides to this point.
- Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill suggested he has high hopes in comments to Heyman. He says he believes the team’s rotation is “solid” and that its pen “is the best in the league, collectively.” While some may raise an eyebrow at that statement, given the lack of name value in the Marlins’ relief corps, the Fish do have a rather deep collection of bullpen arms. As it stands, A.J. Ramos, Kyle Barraclough, Brad Ziegler, Junichi Tazawa and David Phelps make a formidable one through five in that ’pen. Also of note is the fact that the Marlins are hopeful that injured third baseman Martin Prado, who suffered a Grade 1 hamstring strain in the World Baseball Classic, will be back at some point in April. The team plans to use Derek Dietrich, who hit .279/.374/.425 in 412 plate appearances last year, in Prado’s absence.
- It seems the Phillies would have carried veteran Chris Coghlan, except that he declined to sign a 45-day advance consent form. While not an oft-discussed clause, the 45-day advance consent allows a team to cut or option a healthy veteran — the clauses can only be offered to players with five or more years of service — for any reason within the first 45 days of the season. Former MLBTR scribe Zach Links (now the editor of our sister site, Pro Football Rumors) took a much deeper look at advance consent clauses back in 2014 after veteran left-hander Randy Wolf somewhat surprisingly requested his release from the Mariners when asked to agree to such a condition.
- Veteran righty Joe Nathan is still looking to latch on elsewhere after being released by the Nationals earlier this week. The former All-Star was appreciative that the Nationals allowed him to pitch once more in a game even after that decision was made, as it allowed scouts from other clubs to see him in a game setting. The 42-year-old Nathan logged a 3.86 ERA with 15 hits, three walks and nine strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings this spring. That showing comes on the heels of 6 1/3 shutout frames between the Cubs and Giants last year as well as a 2.35 ERA in 15 1/3 minor league innings. Despite his age, Nathan is attempting to reestablish himself after undergoing Tommy John surgery as a 40-year-old in 2015.
timyanks
no indication that chicago is unlikely…double negitive. are the sox willing? or not?
Priggs89
Obviously they’re willing if the price is right.
CubsRule08
I think he meant to say St Louis wouldn’t strike a deal before the season starts…
timyanks
fixed
dewssox79
dont see a match with the cards
CompanyAssassin
I do. Cardinals have several unknowns in pretty much the entire rotation. Only martinez seems solid. Lynn is just coming back, leake had a hard time, wainwright has been pretty terrible in spring training (don’t get me wrong I like him a lot) and wacha has had a long history of issues. I’d love quintana to come in as number 2, bump wacha to the pen, add more certainty.
CompanyAssassin
Also now with molina extended, I wouldn’t be surprised if they dangled kelly as the head trade piece with a package of others. I don’t think giving up kelly is smart but neither do I think having wacha in the rotation is. Would love to see a deal come up without reyes or kelly, but that may be impossible. Weaver, bader, others?
southi
I’d think that Kelly is exactly the type of prospect that could be included in a deal for Quintana. Kelly is young, has upside and plays a premium position.
66TheNumberOfTheBest
No, no, no….don’t you understand…Quintana is so good it’s the same as being great AND he has a great contract….it will take AT LEAST 30 or so Top 20 prospects to land him.
And if some team doesn’t want to give them 30 or so Top 20 prospects, Hahn can just wait until they find a way to do it.
therealryan
Should the Pirates look to trade their good, not great players on team friendly contracts for prospects that will help them when they’re ready to compete next? Obviously 3 top prospects is too much for a good player on a good contract who isn’t great, so how about 2 top prospects for Marte? Would you agree with that?
66TheNumberOfTheBest
The offers I propose for both Cutch and Cole are routinely shot down as being lopsided AGAINST the Pirates.
timyanks
it’s not a done deal yet
slider32
Right now it would take Glasnow, Meadows, and and 2 mid level prospects to get Quintana. The Cards don’t have those types of prospects. The Astros, Yanks, and Braves do.
Putmeincoach12
So, some team is going to give the White Sox 30 players in the “top 20” prospects for him. Once again, that’s 30 people in top 20.
Okay.
Take another hit from the bong bro.
mohoney
As a White Sox fan, a package containing Carson Kelly (roadblocked by Molina’s extension), Harrison Bader (roadblocked by Fowler’s contract), one of either Delvin Perez or Luke Weaver, and a project piece like Dylan Carlson, would get me to say yes.
sss847
an injured Reyes, Carson kelly, Harrison Bader, and some international bonus money could/should get it done.
Falls in between the sale/eaton returns
cards don’t seem like they’re conceding to the cubs like the rest of the division is
chesteraarthur
I’d be really curious to see the internal evaluations/valuations that the WS front office has on Alex Reyes.
Priggs89
Any chance he ever played college football? If so, Kenny would love to have him.
jdgoat
I could see the cards trading him too. They don’t know if he’ll ever come back strong so why not use him to bring down the value of the prospects they’d need to add in to get Q
terry g
Wondered when we get our daily Quintana’s not going anywhere but this team is interested report..
Jgiun1
Lol
Lance
He’ll be this year’s James Shields. Every other day, this web site will have some proposed/rumored deal involving Quintana so that by the time it happens, we’ll be relieved it’s over! 🙂
bsteady7
Nathan seems to still be effective. Why not have him come be your first guy outta the pen to stop a 6th inning rally?
Lance
I suspect someone will pick him up in the next couple weeks. We’ll see someone go on the DL and a team will need bullpen help.
aff10
I know handedness gets a bit overrated at times, but it’s tough for me to buy Hill’s assertion about his bullpen as #1 in the NL without a real left-hander. The bit about having a solid rotation, on the other hand, has to be a flat-out lie
TheMichigan
They have Cervenka in Triple A top
Travis’ Wood
A whole lot of nothing from Heyman, as usual.
IBFarr
I wish Coghlan had stayed with the Phillies.
blueblood1217
Any chance the Dodgers sign Nathan?
_kherz23
I have a Joe Nathan signed baseball from when he played on the Twins. Is it worth anything?
bravesfan
haha it’s worth has much as your little heart wants it to be worth. lol!!!
timyanks
at least the price of the ball
timyanks
only worth what someone is willing to pay
Lance
Good decision by Odor. He’s set for life. Limited risk for Texas. Rougy seems to have a good work ethic and continues to improve. In five years, the Rangers could wind up saving millions before he goes into his prime free agency years.
slider32
I don’t think the Cards have the prospects to get Quintana.
hyraxwithaflamethrower
Depends on whether they part with Reyes. Without him, it’d be a tough sell, but he has the potential, if he comes back strong, to be significantly better than Quintana, good as he is.
chisoxjuan
Is Heyman & co this hard up for news? By now it should be obvious that the CHW aren’t going to take any team’s interest serious until they put 2 of their top 5 prospects on the table. If Heyman has a source for that, then it’s worth reporting. Of course that’s not enough. The rest of the deal has some room for negotation.
Either a 3rd ranked no worse than 10th, or two more ranked no worse than 25th.
Q will never be close to the power pitcher Sale is, but he’s battle tested & mentally strong. With little to no run support he’s quietly avg’d close to 25 quality starts a year. Put him on the Cubs & he’ll challenge the rest of that rotation for ace of that staff. Simply put Q is an ace potential pitcher signed to a deal comparable to a veteran reliever. That’s why the ask isn’t far from Sale’s.
hyraxwithaflamethrower
I disagree. He’s steadier than most pitchers, but not dominant like Sale can be. I don’t just mean in power or K’s, but in terms of overall stuff. For their careers, Sale’s FIP is 0.4 runs lower, his WHIP is .18 lower, and if even with two relative down years, Sale’s WAR over the past 4 years is 3.6 higher. Over his career, he’s been the better pitcher, which is why there’s only one team on which he certainly wouldn’t be the ace (Kershaw’s still better.). Quintana may be the ace on a number of clubs, but not on most playoff contenders. He’s very good, but not great.
chisoxjuan
Again it’s a lot easier to pitch your best when you have a 2-3 run lead. That was common for Sale & as rare as it gets for Q. With the run support of a contender, he’ll have more dominant starts.
Priggs89
I guess it really depends on how you would define your rankings. Personally, I’d say he is a great pitcher. I would not, however, say he’s an elite pitcher. That title belongs to the Kershaw/Sale’s of the MLB (aka there aren’t many).
In regards to playoff contenders, he might not be the clear cut #1 on most of the top clubs going off last year’s standings, but performance/consistency-wise, you could definitely make the argument for him on a few (Baltimore, Toronto, Texas) plus a lot of the bubble teams (NYY, Seattle, Houston, Atlanta – if you think they’re a dark horse contender, STL, Pittsburgh). I’d also love to see what he could do with the North Side’s defense behind him. It would not surprise me one bit to see him put up nearly identical numbers to Lester.