The New York Mets just landed the knockout punch of the offseason by trading for Freddy Peralta, finally giving Queens the bona fide ace it has been craving since the ink dried on the Max Scherzer trade. But here is the thing about building a rotation: you can’t survive on aces alone.
You need guys who will take the ball every fifth day, survive five innings, and keep the bullpen from imploding by mid-June. That brings us to the latest rumor from MLB insider Hector Gomez, who reports that the Mets have “strong interest” in a reunion with veteran left-hander Jose Quintana.
It isn’t the kind of move that sends fans rushing to the team store, but it might be the kind that saves the season when the inevitable injury bug bites.
The Surface Numbers Lie, but the Innings Are Real
Let’s be fair to the old guy for a second because on paper, his 2025 season with the Milwaukee Brewers looks perfectly respectable. The 37-year-old posted a 3.96 ERA over 131.2 innings, proving he can still navigate a big-league lineup without getting completely shelled. For a back-of-the-rotation starter, sub-4.00 production is usually gold. He kept the ball in the yard reasonably well and did exactly what you pay a veteran to do: he took the ball 24 times.
However, if you peel back the layers, things get ugly fast. Quintana was arguably the luckiest pitcher in baseball last year. His Expected ERA (xERA) ballooned to 5.20, a number that sits in the catastrophic 10th percentile of the league. The baseball gods smiled on him in Milwaukee, but betting on that luck to continue in Citi Field is a dangerous game.
A “Smoke and Mirrors” Approach That Terrifies Scouts
The concern isn’t just the luck; it is the complete evaporation of his stuff. Quintana’s fastball averaged just 90.5 mph last season, placing him in the 7th percentile for velocity. When you throw that slow, you have to be perfect, and you certainly aren’t missing many bats.
His strikeout numbers fell off a cliff, dropping to a measly 16.0% K-rate (7th percentile) and an 18.4% Whiff rate that suggests hitters were making contact with almost everything he threw. He relies entirely on guile and a breaking ball that, to his credit, still grades out well with an 82nd percentile Breaking Run Value. That curveball is his lifeline.
So why do it? Because Kodai Senga and Nolan McLean are unknowns when it comes to 180-inning workloads. The Mets don’t need Quintana to win a Cy Young; they need him to be a warm body who knows how to pitch when the top guns need a breather.