Levine: With Jose Quintana, White Sox Remain A Popular Call On Trade Market
By Bruce Levine--
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A month-and-a-half and eight starts into a season in which White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana has a 4.38 ERA, his trade value remains high.
On Sunday, Quintana fired six scoreless innings before he fell prey to a three-run homer by Hunter Renfroe in the seventh inning. His White Sox would then rally for a 9-3 on the strength on an eight-run eighth inning as Quintana took a no-decision. He went seven inning, allowing those three runs on five hits, four walks to go with five strikeouts.
After falling below .500 recently after a strong start, the White Sox (17-18) remain a popular call on the trade market. The Nationals and Red Sox have had some of their top talent evaluators watching Quintana and other White Sox players recently.
Washington remains in the search for a closer and watched as Chicago's David Robertson pitched twice this past week. Robertson has a 2.13 ERA and 0.95 WHIP this season.
For any team, the big score would will be Quintana, who is under team control for $38 million between 2017-'20. While you can never have enough starting pitching, the Red Sox do appear to be well-suited there following the offseason acquisition of Chris Sale from the White Sox. They also have left-hander David Price set to return from an elbow injury soon, as he threw in a simulated game Sunday after his scheduled Triple-A start went by the wayside due to inclement weather.
Quintana is 2-5 with a 4.38 ERA and 1.42 WHIP this season and was left ruing the seventh-inning homer he allowed to Renfroe on Sunday. Quintana has an MLB-high 60 no-decisions since 2012.
"I am a little frustrated because I didn't pitch well enough to get the win," Quintana said. "Definitely, I missed a spot on him. I was trying to get the fastball down and missed. I know that guy has power. That is what happens when you make mistakes."
The heads-up base-running of third baseman Todd Frazier plated the White Sox's first run Sunday, as he scored from third on a pop-up to first baseman Wil Myer, who turned his back to the plate. The Red Sox figure to be evaluating Frazier too, as they're used five players at third base this season. Despite a subpar season, Frazier could provide stability for a team.
"You tell me which ones are watching," Frazier said. "I would like to know. Whatever. We are just playing as a team. We will let the brass (front office) take over from there."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
