Astros Rumors: White Sox asking too much for Quintana?

Reports say the Astros have found the White Sox’ asking price for Jose Quintana to be prohibitively steep.

Following Chicago’s trades of Chris Sale and Adam Eaton, it became clear the White Sox were going into a full rebuild and were offering up left-handed starter Jose Quintana as well. Though the Astros scoffed at Chicago GM Rick Hahn’s asking price for Sale, which reportedly started with young infielder Alex Bregman, sources said Wednesday morning that the Astros were getting involved in talks for Quintana.

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However, The Houston Chronicle’s Jake Kaplan reported Wednesday evening that the Stros have found Chicago’s asking price for Quintana to be exorbitant as well, which gels with Ken Rosenthal’s report that teams seeking Quintana’s services were finding the price to be steep. Kaplan reiterated that the Astros would not part with Bregman in any deal.

CTH’s Eric Huysman analyzed what it might take to acquire Quintana and also concluded the price would be high. If the Stros do indeed move on from their pursuit of Quintana, they could turn to the Royals’ Danny Duffy, one of the Tampa Bay Rays’ starting pitchers or perhaps make a run at Patrick Corbin or Shelby Miller of the Arizona Diamondbacks to find another arm for the starting rotation.

As the Winter Meetings come to a close, Jeff Luhnow laid down the groundwork for future moves. The rotation could use one more big arm at the front of the rotation. Jon Morosi said on MLB Network that Houston is one pitcher away from being a World Series contender Wednesday night.

Next: Astros Rumors: Beware the Price for Quintana

The Astros plan to stretch Chris Devenski out this spring to decide if he should be in the rotation or the bullpen. The team has the depth needed to win but could lack the star power to win it all. We may not ever really know what the White Sox wanted, but they were on a roll and were trying to accumulate talent. It’s probably a good thing that Luhnow stepped back before rushing into a decision.

***Stats from Baseball-Reference***