Dodgers: Rotation Arms They Should Start Looking at

Jose Quintana

Don’t put too much stock into his slow start, he’s earned at least that much. Quintana was the target of a large amount of trade speculation during the offseason because the Chicago White Sox went into full rebuild mode. After the departure of Chris Sale, Quintana became the best available pitcher on the market. He’s not the “ace” that many people tried to make him out to be this past winter, but he’s a good starter.

He has broken the 200-inning barrier in four straight seasons (2013-2016). Doing it once is tough for majority of pitchers nowadays, but doing it four straight times shows that he’s a legit workhorse. Throw in the fact that he compiled a 3.34 ERA in those four seasons and you have a quality innings eater.

He does not strikeout as many people out as you’d like (career 7.4 K/9) and doesn’t do an amazing job of generating a lot of soft contact for a pitcher of his style. In fact it’s worrisome that his groundball and flyball rates aren’t in line with what you’d want them to be. His groundball rate is lower than league average and his flyball rate is higher than the league average. Luckily that would translate ok to Dodger Stadium where he’d be in a pitcher’s park with a good defense behind him.

His name doesn’t carry the cache or excitement of a Chris Archer, or the next guy on this list, but he still gets the job done and is on a team-friendly contract. Personally he wouldn’t be my first choice but would be a welcome addition. However, he is not worth a king’s ransom.