Five players Chicago White Sox could trade for

3. Jose Quintana

A return to the Chicago White Sox for Jose Quintana could possibly be in store in the near future.

Quintana, 31, is entering the final year of his contract with the Chicago Cubs and will make $10.5 million this season.

In a season where the Cubs appear set to take a step back, trading the left-hander while they still can could very well end up making a lot of sense.

If the team is in the middle of contention this season, which is certainly still possible, then this discussion becomes a moot point.

That being said, the Cubs struggled to go 84-78 last season and finished third in the NL Central, behind the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals.

With the Cubs doing very little to help improve their chances this season and the Cincinnati Reds possibly set to take a huge step towards competing, they could find themselves becoming a mediocre team.

If that happens, the team will likely start trading off pieces from the roster and rentals are certain to be among the first to go.

Quintana could make sense for the White Sox to re-acquire from the Cubs if any of their pitchers go down, given his familiarity with the franchise and his comfort pitching in this city.

In 2019, the southpaw had a 4.68 ERA, 3.80 FIP, 1.386 WHIP, 8.0 K/9, and 2.4 BB/9. While that wasn’t nearly his best season, he is still a useful arm in any rotation and his FIP suggests he might have run into some bad luck this past year.

If any of the White Sox’s arms fail to produce and/or get hurt, Quintana could very well find himself back in the South Side.