Cardinals Rumors: Could St. Louis be a fit for Jose Quintana?

Could the St. Louis Cardinals be a fit for Jose Quintana? It makes sense in many ways and could finally solidify a leaky starting rotation.

The St. Louis Cardinals will have rotation reinforcements coming in the next couple weeks with Jack Flaherty and Steven Matz coming off the Injured List. But even then, with Jordan Hicks on the IL and likely to move back to the bullpen, they could use rotation upgrades.

Which is why we have speculated on Dallas Keuchel being an option for the Cardinals, considering 1) the need and 2) that they could use another left-handed starter.

Let’s say that the Cardinals fail to land Keuchel. Then who could they turn to? One possibility could be Pittsburgh Pirates starter Jose Quintana, who has emerged as a revelation in 2022 and is signed to a very team friendly one-year, $2.5 million contract.

Yes, trading within the division is unusual, but the Pirates have a history of trading starters in the division. A couple years ago, they traded Jordan Lyles to the Milwaukee Brewers, and he emerged as one of their best starting pitchers and guided them to the postseason. Quintana could have a similar impact in St. Louis, especially in the middle- to bottom-of-the-rotation.

Just look at his numbers this season. In nine starts, Quintana has posted a 2.15 ERA and 38/17 strikeout-to-walk ratio. His FIP is 3.22, which would be a massive upgrade in the No. 5 spot in the rotation for St. Louis, and give them another veteran left-hander alongside Matz and give them a rotation (when healthy) of Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, Miles Mikolas, Matz and Quintana. Pretty good.

Quintana would not be the flashiest option, of course, but the same was said last year with the additions of J.A. Happ and Jon Lester. Quintana would be a better version of that at a slightly higher cost. And considering that Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak is typically hesitant to part with top prospects, it’s likely that Quintana will be under consideration.

As he should. He would go a long way toward finally solidifying a rotation that has given the Cardinals fits in recent years.