New York Mets starting pitcher Jose Quintana will be shut down for three months due to a stress fracture on the fifth rib on his left side, as first reported by Mike Puma of the New York Post.
Seen as a best-case scenario, Quintana won’t begin throwing until mid-June and, at the earliest, return around the MLB All-Star break in July.
The 34-year-old left-hander was brought in on a two-year, $26 million contract this winter to help round out the bottom of the Mets rotation and prove that he can still be a serviceable starter at the MLB level. He overcame a difficult 2021 season to post a 2.93 ERA and 137 strikeouts over 165.2 innings pitched with the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals.
But he would only start one game for the Mets during spring training, allowing five runs while not getting out of the first inning before being shut down during a minor-league exhibition game. He announced shortly after that he would not play for Colombia at the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Now with the No. 5 spot open for the first half of the season, both southpaw David Peterson and right-hander Tylor Megill have an opportunity to re-enter the fold of the major-league rotation. Given New York’s busy offseason that saw the acquisitions of Quintana, Justin Verlander, and Kodai Senga to supplement the losses of Chris Bassit, Jacob deGrom, and Taijuan Walker, both Peterson and Megill were slated to begin the 2023 season down in Triple-A.
