Pittsburgh Pirates: Two Jose Quintana Trades to the AL

The Trade Deadline is just a few weeks away.  The Pittsburgh Pirates have one of the best rotation pieces that likely is on the trade block.

When the Pittsburgh Pirates signed Jose Quintana this past offseason, there were three reasons as to why.  First, for him to effectively cover innings across the 2022 season.  Also, the team was set to have a very young pitching staff, adding a veteran like Quintana can be invaluable.  The third was to hope he would regain some of his form and be worth something in a trade.

Well, Quintana checked all of those boxes for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The left-handed starter has had his best season in years.  His current ERA is 3.59 which is obviously very good.  However, this is the lowest ERA he has had since 2016, which is the last time his earned run average was below 4.  He is also eating up innings, averaging over 5 innings pitched a start, which is exactly what teams want from their starters nowadays.

The last note on Quintana is that he is on an expiring contract, so he would be strictly a rental for any team acquiring his talents.  The good news is that his contract was only worth $2,000,000 which makes him very affordable for any teams who are not adding payroll or might be up against the Luxury Tax line.

Add this all together and the Pittsburgh Pirates have one of the top trade chips for this year’s trade deadline.  There is the idea about giving the left-hander an extension, but at 33 years old and him having a renaissance season, there is too much risk in the extension.  So here are a few teams and trade ideas for the veteran pitcher: