Chicago White Sox: Three trade packages for Jose Quintana
The Chicago White Sox could trade for Joose Quintana to be their fifth starter.
The Chicago White Sox have more of a pitching dilemma than they would have thought going into the season. Michael Kopech opted out early in Summer Camp which left them without one of their top pitching prospects. He will be back in 2021 so that really isn’t a big deal as everyone respects his decision. Where it hurts is the fact that both Carlos Rodon and Reynaldo Lopez are out with injury which depletes a lot of the depth we thought they would have.
Gio Gonzalez has already replaced Reynaldo Lopez in the rotation and we are still waiting to see who will replace Carlos Rodon. They still, even after they figure it out, might be looking for another arm to add to their rotation. It would certainly be interesting if they considered trading for Jose Quintana of the Chicago Cubs.
The White Sox, obviously, had Jose Quintana for a good part of his career. They traded him to the Cubs back in 2017 for Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, and two other prospects. It was a great trade for the White Sox and a not so great trade for the Cubs. Jimenez is one of the best power hitters in the league already and Cease has the stuff to be a great pitcher in the league.
Meanwhile, Quintana has been very average for the Cubs in his time there and now he is injured after hurting his hand washing dishes. He is going to eventually come back but with Alec Mills and Tyler Chatwood pitching so well, it is hard to see him deserving a guaranteed spot in their rotation. He would, however, fit nicely as a number five with the White Sox with all of these injuries that they have dealt with. These three packages might get a trade done:
Trade 1
The Chicago White Sox have Steve Cishek in their bullpen. He is having a start that White Sox fans probably wish was a little bit better but he certainly hasn’t been the worst in the league. He would be an upgrade in a lot of ways for the Cubs as they look to tread along with their bullpen. They have suffered hard in that area and it has come close to costing them multiple baseball games. So far, they have escaped the bullpen woes but it won’t continue.
Cishek is a former member of the Cubs and he had great success there. He knows what it is like to be in that clubhouse with that core and win with them. It might be the type of thing where he finds his old form if he goes back to a situation where he is much more comfortable. They could definitely use his services as soon as possible.
If the Cubs don’t add another reliever that is much more reliable they are going to start falling off. Their lineup is great and their starting rotation is great so they need to take advantage. If their bullpen starts blowing games to the point where they are losing, that will be big problems for them. In a one for one deal like this, each team would be filling a need by getting a guy back that used to play for them and only has this year on their contract.
Trade 2
Matt Foster has been a nice player for the White Sox so far this season. They have used him as an opener and as a reliever so far. It is hard to tell what his ceiling is but the Cubs could absolutely use a guy like this in their bullpen. He is still an unknown commodity so it is hard to say that the White Sox shouldn’t trade him for a well-known starter.
Quintana isn’t all that, or at least he hasn’t been with the Cubs, but he is an upgrade over having a “bullpen day”. The White Sox are too good of a team to be dealing with that kind of stuff so they should definitely look to improve their pitching depth that has taken such a hit. If this trade happened, the Cubs would need to hope that Foster is as good as he’s shown and the White Sox would need to show that
Foster has a 1-0 record so far this season. The White Sox started him as an opener on Saturday but he didn’t give up a run despite the team going on to lose 7-1. It was his 4th appearance and he hasn’t given up a single run in any of them. He has a .0706 WHIP and 9 strikeouts in those 5.2 innings. If the White Sox kept him, they should be encouraged by his start but they can also use him to get some starter help if they wanted.
Trade 3
The Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs could even trade two starters that need a bit of a change. Reynaldo Lopez was probably the White Sox best pitcher in 2018 but he took a big step back in 2019 and things haven’t been great for him here in 2020. He came over with Lucas Giolito in 2016 as a part of the Adam Eaton trade. Even though Quintana only has one year left on his deal, the White Sox could try and keep him if he played well when he comes back.
The White Sox can’t really afford to lose many games this season just because of their pitching. They are going to lose some games as every good team does but it needs to be because they were outplayed and not because they didn’t handle their pitching right. If Lopez went to the Cubs, they might have a guy waiting then in case the need for a starter pops up.
He also might be a nice player to insert into their bullpen. It can’t be stressed enough that their bullpen is very bad and needs help badly. Theo Epstein hasn’t been shy about doing what he needs to do to improve his team and Rich Hahn might be able to take advantage of a trade like this or similar.
Ozzie Guillen's comments broke the internet. light. Hot
We don’t know if the Cubs will keep Quintana for the remainder of the season or deal him but it is an interesting storyline for sure. There have been rumors coming from reliable sources that people shouldn’t be surprised if the Cubs trade him to a team whose pitching has taken “a hit at their depth” which describes the White Sox perfectly.