New York Mets left-hander Jose Quintana, who finished his last spring practice with strains in his left side, was diagnosed with a lesion on one of his ribs. General manager Billy Eppler told reporters Tuesday. A biopsy was performed and the lesion is benign. Quintana will undergo a bone transplant and will be sidelined until at least July. Quintana’s problem initially appeared to be a minor stress fracture in his fifth rib.
Quintana, 34, signed a two-year contract with the Mets in the winter. That contract and his $26 million guarantee were his reward for salvaging his career last season with the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals. Across 32 starts, he recorded a 137 ERA+ and a 2.91 strikeout-to-walk ratio, marks that allowed him to contribute an estimated 3.5 wins over the reserve. CBS Sports ranked him as the 39th best free agent on the market at the time, writing the following:
Quintana’s one weird trick to revitalize his career at 33? He gave up four fewer home runs than in 2021, despite throwing an extra 102 innings. His game is and always has been based on contact management. He doesn’t have any loud stuff, but he thinks what he has is good enough to get by with. And he made it through. Quintana has been a competent starter for about a decade, barring the 73 combined innings he pitched in the 2020-21 seasons. Since sly lefties are essentially interdimensional beings, unbound or ungoverned by the rules of linear time, Quintana should be a decent bet to have at least one more solid year.
Quintana, along with fellow free-agent signings Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga, would help a Mets rotation that was losing Jacob deGrom, Taijuan Walker and Chris Bassitt to more lucrative pastures. With Quintana forced to miss several months, the Mets will likely turn to a depth option, whether it be David Peterson, Tylor Megill, Joey Lucchesi or even Elieser Hernandez.
The Mets are scheduled to open the regular season on March 30 against the Miami Marlins.