Jose Quintana and Steven Brault are linked by more than throwing left-handed and exchanging a spot on the Pirates' 40-man roster, as they did Monday when the free agent signing of Quintana became official.
They've experienced what it's like to struggle to stay healthy, as well as how tough it can be to go from starter to reliever and the havoc that can wreak on one’s routine.
"Being a starter is so different than being a reliever," Quintana said over Zoom after his one-year, $2 million contract was announced. "I know this past year I spent a lot of time as a reliever, but I’m a starting pitcher.
"I want to prove that. I feel better in that spot."
By signing with the Pirates, Quintana will get the chance to prove that last season — where he had a 6.43 ERA in 29 appearances (10 starts) between the Angels and Giants — wasn't who he really is, and he'll take the roster spot occupied by Brault, who was designated for assignment.
Pittsburgh addressed one of its biggest offseason needs by adding pitching depth in Quintana. If nothing else, Quintana has been a workhorse, making 30 or more starts in seven consecutive seasons from 2013-19.
Left shoulder, lat and thumb injuries bothered Quintana, 32, over the past two seasons, during which he has gone 0-3 with a 6.16 ERA in 73 innings, walking 38 and striking out 97. Especially frustrating, Quintana said, has been the start-and-stop problems the injuries have created, where he couldn’t get comfortable with his mechanics or fix any sort of lingering issues.
"It was really hard, especially when you feel you fixed it," Quintana said. "You start to pitch better. After that, you get hurt. That’s really frustrating.”
As a way to sort of get back to the pitcher he used to be, Quintana said he's revamped his delivery, trying to rediscover some of the tempo and movement he had back in 2016, when the Pirates "worked hard" — words from ESPN's Buster Olney — to acquire Quintana via trade.
Quintana was an All-Star that year and won 13 games with the White Sox. His ERA was also a career-low 3.20, while he worked 200-plus innings for the fourth time.
"I remember that," Quintana said of the Pirates' previous trade interest and efforts to acquire him. "Right now I’m a Pirate, and I’m really excited to be part of this team next year and do my job."
That job, as Quintana said, is most certainly as a starter, and it will come after he whiffed a career-high 12.1 per nine innings in 2021. It was feast or famine for Quintana as well after he gave up a dozen home runs in 29 appearances (10 starts).
While pitching mostly for the White Sox and Cubs, Quintana is 83-80 with a 3.84 ERA in 283 MLB games, 257 of them starts. The Colombia native features a four-pitch mix that includes a four-seam fastball, curveball, sinker and changeup. But he’s also endured the two worst average exit velocities against in his career in 2020 and 2021: 94.5 and 90.6 mph, respectively.
The signing of Quintana is very much like what the Pirates did last offseason with Tyler Anderson, where they added a veteran for cheap, gave him an opportunity and hoped he would pitch well enough to attract interest, which he obviously did.
To his credit, Quintana seems to grasp what the Pirates want out of him: to take the ball every fifth or sixth day, set an example for younger guys and be someone they can count on.
"I know right now we have a lot of younger guys," Quintana said. "I’m here to help them, the same way veterans did for me in the past. I can’t wait for that."
Brault made his MLB and Pirates debut back in 2016 and had a 4.86 ERA in eight games (seven starts) that season. The affable left-hander has bounced between starting and relieving over the next few seasons before seemingly taking a step forward in 2019.
Starting May 29 of that year and running through Aug. 22, 2021, Brault put together a 32-game, 31-stretch where he pitched to a 3.92 ERA with 130 strikeouts and 63 walks over 149⅓ innings. However, he has also had a tough time staying healthy.
Projected to make $2.2 million via arbitration, Brault has dealt with left shoulder and lat issues the past two seasons. Those injuries limited him to just seven starts and 27⅔ innings pitched in 2021 before he left a Sept. 10 start after two innings with left arm discomfort and was ultimately diagnosed with a recurrent left lat strain.
Brault was healthy when the Pirates DFA’d him, a source confirmed, which means the Pirates likely didn’t want to take the gamble that his 2022 salary would pay off in the form of tradability.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: November 29, 2021, 8:34 p.m.
