Should the Cleveland Guardians kick the tires on a former division rival arm?

It will not be long before pitchers and catchers report for the Cleveland Guardians in Arizona to begin spring training activities. This is usually when veteran free agents begin to find new homes for the upcoming season, and there is one in particular that could be of interest to the Guardians, given the state of their starting rotation, Jose Quintana.

The 36-year-old left-hander is coming off a solid season of work for the New York Mets, finishing with a 3.75 ERA, 1.250 WHIP, and 7.1 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. Quintana threw 170.1 innings in 2024, the most in a single season since 2019. It is the volume of innings by Quintana while still providing an adequate performance on the mound that should be of interest to any team seeking starting pitching, not just the Guardians.

Cleveland could use a known commodity to insert into their rotation, and Quintana would certainly qualify as one. As of now, the Guardians can only truly count on Tanner Bibee, with the rest of their possible starters being considered question marks. This could prove to be a problem for their hopes of repeating as American League Central Champions and advancing further in the postseason.

Ideally, the likes of Gavin Williams, Triston McKenzie, Ben Lively, Logan Allen, and Luis Ortiz would be able to deliver the type of results the Guardians need, but that is not guaranteed. Williams was inconsistent last season, Lively is a back-end innings eater at best, while both McKenzie and Allen were sent down to Triple-A last season because of their performance. The recently acquired Ortiz could help their pitching efforts, but there are a few concerns about the way he got hitters out last season that could point toward a regression in 2025.

As currently constructed, the Guardians will need a lot of things to go right from their rotation arms if they are going to be successful. That is why the prospect of adding someone like Quintana is appealing. Bringing someone in who can reduce the level of variance and infusing some stability into this group would make everyone feel a lot more comfortable about their chances in 2025.