Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage, and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s okay, though, we’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning, and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network, as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end, or at least until after you subscribe to the newsletter.
Stop underrating Jose Quintana
Wednesday’s Say Hey, Baseball includes the quiet greatness of Jose Quintana, Trayce Thompson’s magic homer, and the best offseasons in baseball.
Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
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Jose Quintana has quietly been one of baseball's better pitchers since 2012, when the then-23-year-old debuted for the White Sox and threw 136 well above-average innings. He now has 781 big league frames behind him, a career ERA of 3.36, and a 118 ERA+ in that stretch. Since 2013, Quintana has a better ERA+ than Cole Hamels, John Lackey, Lance Lynn, James Shields, Dallas Keuchel, Hisashi Iwakuma, and far, far more. He's thrown at least 200 innings in each of the last three seasons, and has averaged over 6 1/3 innings per start to begin 2016, which over a full year, would give him another campaign with at least 200.
He is great, and no one outside the South Side seems to notice. Part of this is the presence of teammate Chris Sale, who is in the discussion for greatest active pitcher who isn’t Clayton Kershaw. Another part is that Quintana is on the White Sox, who have exactly one winning season during his career and spent a very productive offseason being overshadowed by the crosstown Cubs. The White Sox are currently 19-8 and in first place -- like their North Side cousins -- in the AL Central, though, and they can thank Quintana for much of that. Most recently, their victory on Tuesday: the lefty held a fellow first-place team, the Red Sox, to four hits and one run over eight innings.
If you aren’t paying attention to Quintana (or the White Sox) yet, then it’s time to change that. He’s great, and the White Sox have him signed through 2020 thanks to a team-friendly extension that’s an even cheaper version of Sale’s ridiculous deal. If the White Sox keep playing as they have, you’re going to hear a lot more about Quintana than you ever have before. And if Quintana keeps pitching like he has, then the White Sox will keep winning.
- They can't all be winners, of course. Longtime White Sox starter John Danks was designated for assignment on Tuesday, as Chicago just couldn't justify keeping him in the rotation any longer.
- Yadier Molina did push-ups during an at-bat and then hit a single. You know, regular baseball stuff.
- Trayce Thompson, brother of the Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson, hit a home run on Tuesday night that literally did not come down.
- These are the best offseason's in baseball, based entirely on one month of data. That's all you need, right?
- At ThinkProgress, a roundtable was held to discuss the "More Than Mean" video on the online harassment of women, featuring Julie DiCaro, Lindsey Adler, Stacey May Fowles, Kavitha A. Davidson, and more. You should read it.
- Jonathan Papelbon blew a save against the Royals, and the Internet rejoiced. Papelbon is great, but everyone seems to enjoy moments like this when he is not.
- It took Jackie Bradley literal years to get his offensive act together in the majors, but he's hit .256/.334/.492 since the start of 2015 with Gold Glove defense on top of it. How much of that performance is for real?
- Ryan Kalish has finally returned to the majors after more surgeries than you knew a baseball player could get and still be able to make it back to the bigs.
- Sam Miller wrote about Clayton Kershaw, which should be about all you need to be convinced to click.
- There's a whole lot of day baseball today, and much of that (and the evening slate) features aces.
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