Mets, José Quintana in agreement on 2-year, $26 million contract: Sources

Free-agent pitcher José Quintana is in agreement with the Mets on a two-year, $26 million contract, pending a physical, major-league sources told The Athletic on Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know:

Quintana is ranked No. 11 on The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman’s list of top 20 free-agent starting pitchers.
The 33-year-old left-hander was traded to the Cardinals at this year’s deadline after signing with the Pirates for $2 million last offseason.
He combined for a 6-7 record with a 2.93 ERA across 165.2 innings pitched for Pittsburgh and St. Louis last season.

Free-agent left-hander José Quintana in agreement with Mets on a two-year, $26M contract, pending physical, sources tell me and @WillSammon.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 7, 2022

Scouting report

Quintana was one of MLB’s best left-handers during six seasons with the White Sox, but his performance declined after a mid-2017 trade to the Cubs. After a career-worst 6.43 ERA in 2021, Pittsburgh got Quintana back on track and then shipped him to St. Louis, where he posted a 2.01 ERA in 12 starts after the trade deadline.

His strikeout rate was just 20.2 percent, below the MLB average and his worst mark since 2013, but he was able to limit homers, registering an MLB-low 0.4 homers per nine innings, including just one for the Cardinals.

What Quintana adds to Mets’ rotation

Once the Mets landed Justin Verlander, they always wanted one of their next moves to be acquiring help for the middle of their rotation. In signing Quintana, they did just that. After adding Verlander, the Mets needed a mid-tier starter with reliability. Quintana spells reliability. In eight of his 11 seasons (including 2022), Quintana has made at least 29 starts and thrown at least 165 innings.

For as good as the top of the Mets’ rotation is with Max Scherzer and Verlander, there are some questions. Notably, there are the ages of the group — Verlander will be 40 in February, Scherzer is 38 and this will be Carlos Carrasco’s age-36 season — plus the potential need to use mostly unproven or inexperienced internal options for the fifth starter. So, plugging Quintana behind Scherzer and Verlander is just what the Mets needed. That’s especially true since Chris Bassitt remains a free agent, will likely command a hefty multi-year deal and was New York’s most reliable regular-season starter. Even with Quintana, the Mets could look to add additional rotation help in the form of someone like Japanese star Kodai Senga. Regardless, adding the trustworthiness and consistency of Quintana was a smart move. — Sammon

Assessing the contract value

FanGraphs has projected the Mets’ 2023 payroll at $290 million. Their competitive balance tax number may already be closer to $300 million. The final luxury tax threshold is $293 million. That has been dubbed “the Steve Cohen tax.” As ESPN’s Jeff Passan pointed out on Twitter, each dollar they spend gets taxed at 90 percent. Aside from that money — and it can escalate quite a bit — there are no other additional penalties once the final threshold is passed.

So one theory is once you go over it, you might as well just blow by it and pay whatever the rising fine becomes. How much is Cohen willing to spend? The guess here, given their roster window, competition and ambitions, the Mets will keep spending in their attempt to use free agency in the short term for winning now while staying mindful of prospect capital for sustainable winning. Regardless if they add another starter or not, the Mets still need a solution for center field and capable bullpen help. — Sammon

Required reading

(Photo: Jeff Curry/ USA Today)