The Yankees offseason hasn’t been as bad as the average fan believes: it has been worse. All kidding aside, things haven’t been explosive on the player acquisition front, but the Bombers have done plenty of work. They brought back Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham, Amed Rosario, Tim Hill, Ryan Yarbrough, and Paul Blackburn while also trading for Ryan Weathers and taking a few chances in the form of minor league deals.
After adding Weathers, their rotation depth for the first few weeks of the 2026 campaign
looks as follows: Max Fried, Luis Gil, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, Weathers, and Yarbrough.
That group has, in that order, an established ace, a ‘broken’ former Rookie of the Year, an exciting second-year young star, and three serviceable mid-to-backend options with upside, some with more upside than others. Keep in mind, things will improve dramatically when Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon rejoin the staff at some point in the first couple of months of the 2026 campaign, but until that happens, there are real depth concerns with the aforementioned group.
Given the inexperience of some of those pitchers (Schlittler, Warren) plus the injury-related concerns of others (Gil, Weathers), it’s clear that the Yankees could stand to add at least one more capable starter before the start of the season.
We are not talking about another ace (although that would be nice!). But Spring Training always brings injuries with it, and the Yanks are a couple of strains away from having to rush Elmer Rodríguez to the majors or use a mediocre Triple-A option for spot starts. Counting on Cole and Rodon to be aces immediately upon returning would also not be fair.
That’s where a pitcher like José Quintana comes in. The veteran left-hander is not a sexy name, but the Yanks don’t necessarily need one. They need reliability and pitching know-how, and Quintana offers both.
In 2025, Quintana was limited to 131.2 innings due to a left shoulder impingement and a calf strain, yet he was able to offer reliable production while on the mound. His 3.96 ERA was more than serviceable, and even though his 4.81 FIP told another story, the lefty was able to keep the Brewers in more games than they probably expected.
Quintana is 37 and, as a result, is not expected to command a hefty salary or a multi-year deal, which certainly appeals to a team like the Yankees. And his run-prevention skills are not exclusive to last season: his career ERA is a fine 3.76, and his mark over the last four campaigns is an even better 3.53 in 543.1 frames.
In fact, here are his ERA finishes since 2022:
2022: 2.93
2023: 3.57
2024: 3.75
2025: 3.96
That’s consistency right there. That’s a pitcher who repeatedly hits his spots when he is locked in and is not afraid to pitch when the lights shine the brightest.
Quintana is far from dominant, though. He pitches to contact, ranking in the seventh percentile in both whiff rate and strikeout rate last year. In fact, his Statcast profile is more blue than red:
Still, 543.1 innings is definitely proof that, when he’s healthy, the crafty lefty has gotten outs consistently in recent seasons, even if his underlying stuff is far from over-powering.
He relies heavily on his sinker, which he throws 44 percent of the time, and also on a mix of changeups, curveballs, four-seamers, and slurves as his secondary pitches. As long as Quintana’s sinker averages between 90 and 91 mph, he will probably be able to offer solid backend production for a contender, and so far, there haven’t been any signs of a relevant velocity drop. He has been around that range for the last three years.
Maybe the Yankees don’t want to spend anymore and are happy with their current group. Perhaps they bring in another arm via trade. But Quintana gives them a rather inexpensive option if they want to go that route, and while it wouldn’t be wise to expect a 3.50 ERA with a strikeout per inning, somewhere around a 3.80 ERA and a 4.20 mark with plenty of weak contact would be enough to meet expectations and provide cover while the Yankees wait for their injured starters to come around.
