Stop with the Jose Quintana trade talk

We are about a month into the 2015 offseason and teams are making some minor moves, but no one has signed a marquee free agent or made a blockbuster trade yet. A name I keep seeing on “What-If” articles and posts is left-hander Jose Quintana.

Even a couple Chicago beat writers think that a trade to the Chicago Cubs is such a great idea. Why?   Because one Chicago team is on the cusp of being good, the White Sox should just give up their second best pitcher for basically nothing just so that the Cubs can succeed? This is such a preposterous idea it makes me laugh every time I see the thought proposed.

Jose Quintana has always been thought to be underrated in relation to other starting pitchers because of his terrible Win-Loss record. However, now that teams are starting to take notice as to just how great and efficient he is, his name is being thrown around in all of these fantasy trade talks to help contenders win now. If the White Sox hope to contend within the next few seasons, they will need Jose Quintana to do it.

Since 2013, only eight pitchers have a higher Wins Above Replacement than Jose Quintana.

The White Sox have trouble developing proven, Major League quality hitters. I know this, you reading this post probably know this, and every other White Sox fan unfortunately knows this. Their one saving grace has always been their pitching. Since the 2009 season, the White Sox have not had less than 86 quality starts per season. They actually had the third most in the league this past season at 98!

Those arguing for a Quintana trade want to take away from the one aspect the White Sox can boast about. It does not make sense to me to degrade your team’s best aspect by trading a proven commodity for hitters or prospects that may or may not pan out.

Need another reason to not trade Quintana? His effectiveness and importance to this rotation are invaluable. Since 2013, only eight pitchers have a higher Wins Above Replacement than Jose Quintana. Think about that for a second. The White Sox basically have two top-10 pitchers in their rotation right now already and not to mention that Carlos Rodon has the potential to be another ace-caliber pitcher like our own Chris Sale.

Sorry, but if a team has the chance to have three top of the line starters that are all under 26 and under team control until at least 2018 you need to keep that rotation intact. Pitching will always keep be the one thing the White Sox can rely on and if Jose Quintana is subtracted from that equation, it puts much more of the burden on Chris Sale and Carlos Rodon to carry the load.

I’m more than ready for people to stop talking about how the White Sox should use Quintana to rebuild and instead transition to talking about how to win with him. However, at the end of the day it all comes down to Rick Hahn’s decision.