The Chicago White Sox have made it no surprise that they are willing to trade pitcher Jose Quintana. The 28-year-old lefty has been mentioned in countless rumors all offseason, but the White Sox have remained patient, waiting for another team to increase its offer for their ace.
They might be waiting a bit longer following Quintana’s opening-day start against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday. Detroit jumped all over the left-hander, tagging Quintana for six earned runs in 5 1/3 innings.
Things seemed promising at first. Quintana was able to get through a scoreless first inning without many issues. He walked Miguel Cabrera with two outs, but induced a weak groundout from Victor Martinez to get out of the frame unscathed.
That early success didn’t last long. A leadoff single by Justin Upton kicked things off. Quintana then hit Mikie Mahtook with a pitch, moving Upton to second. After getting a fly out to right, Quintana faced off against rookie JaCoby Jones. On the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Jones smacked a three-run homer to left. It was Jones’ first major-league home run.
Though the bases were empty, Quintana continued to struggle. A two-out walk to Ian Kinsler put another runner on base. Nick Castellanos followed up that mistake with a two-run shot of his own. Quintana got Cabrera on a fly out to end the inning, but the damage was done. Detroit put up a five-spot during the frame.
They weren’t content with that, though. The Tigers continued their assault on Quintana in the fourth, when Kinsler added a solo shot to make it 6-1.
Despite the struggles, the White Sox stayed with Quintana for the fifth and sixth innings. Quintana mostly rewarded their faith, keeping the Tigers off the board in the fifth. He was removed in the sixth after giving up a one-out walk. Though he improved as the day went on, Quintana still turned in a rough line. He gave up six earned run on five hits over six innings. Quintana struck out two, walked three and gave up three home runs.
It was just one start, obviously, so there’s no need to overreact to Quintana’s struggles. In fairness, it was really only one bad inning that did him in. Quintana has a long track record of success. He’ll be just fine as the season progresses.
Still, Tuesday’s start wasn’t exactly the best thing in the world for Quintana’s trade value. The White Sox have made it clear they expect a huge offer for the All-Star lefty. If that’s going to happen, they’ll need their ace to rebound quickly the next time out.
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