Cardinals plunder pirate pitching staff

The St. Louis Cardinals needed a pitching upgrade, and they acquired one in Jose Quintana from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It wasn’t the Bucs year, to say the least.

But the Pirates could come in handy for contenders as they have several veterans with expiring contracts. Quintana is one of those vets.

At 33, Quintana is having its best season in quite a while, Pitched to 3.50 ERA and 3.24 FIP. In his last two starts in Pittsburgh, he gave up zero earned runs over 12.2 innings, with an 8-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Trade details by Jose Quintana

cardinals received

SP, Jose Quintana

If this is all the cards have planned for this close of trading, consider us underpowered. For a team once linked with outfielder Juan Soto and Starting pitcher Frankie Montasonly acquiring Quintana would be a huge disappointment.

St. Louis has all the makings of a contender, with a few holes to boot. Starting to pitch is definitely one of them. However, both Luis Castillo and Montas missed this front office. Quintana is a solid addition, but stinks of getting used to it – something the Cards did as of last year’s deadline.

A trade between the divisions between these two rivals is rare, but something that has become necessary for John Mozeliak in recent days.

Quintana’s contract expires after this season, so it remains to be seen if he is in the Cards’ plans beyond 2022. That will likely depend on his performance over the next few months.