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White Sox having ‘daily’ Jose Quintana trade talks with at least 3 teams
Thursday’s Say Hey, Baseball includes the latest on Jose Quintana, Mark Trumbo and the A’s, and the state of the Red Sox farm system.
Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images
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The White Sox haven’t forgotten about trading Jose Quintana. Not even close! In fact, they’re having “daily” trade discussions about their top pitcher, reports Ken Rosenthal, and are doing so with at least three teams: the Astros, Pirates, and Yankees. The Yankees seem to be last in line given their reluctance to part with the prospects the White Sox want, but this is the Yankees we’re talking about, so let’s not count them out until someone else has traded for Quintana.
Chicago isn’t in a rush to deal Quintana, which is why so relative little is being reported on these trade discussions. He’s under contract for four more seasons, with less than $18 million of the money owed to him guaranteed thanks to two option years. He’s coming off of his best season, so there is no concern that he’s on the way down. He’ll be all of 28 years old in 2017, meaning he’s not going to be an old man at any point during this deal everyone wants to be their own. Chicago can let the suitors come to them.
The White Sox could move him at the July 31 trade deadline if they don’t get the offers they want now, and someone — like, say, the Yankees — might be more willing to pay what is needed depending on how close they are to making 2017 a memorable success. Quintana is a special case, as he will be expensive in prospects, but he’s going to be a significant pitcher at a low cost for four seasons, and unlike some of these prospects, those years of success can start right away. He won’t come cheap, and with so much time left on his deal, there is little reason for the White Sox to make him so.
- The Phillies have been speculatively listed as a landing spot for Ryan Braun, a player the Brewers wouldn’t mind moving in order to further fuel their rebuild.
- The Athletics have "reached out" to free agent slugger Mark Trumbo, which should probably make the O’s a little nervous given they’ve been mostly without competition to this point.
- As Athletics Nation points out, the A’s already have Mark Trumbo, and his name is Khris Davis.
- There’s some disagreement over whether the Twins have set themselves up well in the Brian Dozier trade sweepstakes.
- The Rangers are moving towards a deal with free agent pitcher Tyson Ross, who was non-tendered after an injury-plagued year with the Padres. If Texas gets the healthy version of the ground-balling strikeout machine, though, then the AL West will have to watch out.
- The Starlin Castro deal hasn’t worked out as hoped for the Yankees, even with the low acquisition cost.
- The Red Sox don’t lack for talented youth, given seven of their nine lineup spots will feature homegrown players in 2017 and just two of those players are over 27. Their farm system is the weakest it’s been for years now, though.
- Pitchers are swinging on 3-0 pitches now, writes Sam Miller. What is the world coming to?
- The Cardinals need another outfielder.
- Polls can be misleading, as you are aware. So, here is an attempt to unskew the Hall of Fame ballot information we do have to make it more representative of what we should end up seeing on Ja18.
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