The New York Mets brought in Jose Quintana to help put together a rotation that had several departing names.
Jacob deGrom, Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker all signed with other teams, so general manager Billy Eppler had a lot of work to do.
To replace those three names, he signed Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, and Quintana.
The crafty left-hander, who was one of the league’s top lefties from 2012 to 2017, didn’t have a good start to his spring training campaign, though.
“José Quintana recorded only two outs in his Grapefruit debut this afternoon. He allowed five runs, including a booming two-run homer from David Hensley that hit halfway up the batter’s eye in straightaway center. Quintana, the Mets’ presumptive fourth starter, threw 30 pitches,” Mets insider Anthony DiComo tweeted.
José Quintana recorded only two outs in his Grapefruit debut this afternoon. He allowed five runs, including a booming two-run homer from David Hensley that hit halfway up the batter's eye in straightaway center. Quintana, the Mets' presumptive fourth starter, threw 30 pitches.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) February 28, 2023
Just like we shouldn’t get overly excited if a young prospect makes one or two good starts in spring training, we shouldn’t overreact when a veteran, especially one with a solid 3.75 career ERA, gets shelled in his first start.
It’s certainly something to monitor, though.
If Quintana has a couple more of these starts, then it should be time to worry.
For now, he should be fine.
What we should be paying the most attention to are his velocity readings.
It’s too early to panic, though.
Quintana is expected to be a backend starter in the Mets rotation.
The veteran was great in 2022 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals, with a 2.93 ERA, a 1.21 WHIP, and a 137/47 K/BB ratio across 165 2/3 innings.
He is unlikely to repeat such a low ERA with his relatively low 20.2 percent strikeout rate, but he hits his spots and is very intelligent.
A mid-3.00s ERA could be in store for him, and the Mets would be thrilled if that’s the case.
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