There is little to doubt about what the Angels and new general manager Perry Minasian have done so far this offseason. For the cost of $15.25 million, Minasian has addressed many of the existing holes on the roster, from shortstop to catcher to a back-end arm for a still-patchwork bullpen.
It’s what he hasn’t — or until Tuesday night, had not — done that raised questions about what the Angels would be able to accomplish in the first winter with their new front office.
Advertisement
The starting pitching has been both ineffective and thin in terms of depth for much of the last half decade, a span in which the unit posted the lowest FanGraphs Wins Above Replacement of any rotation in baseball. A fifth consecutive losing season and the firing of former GM Billy Eppler was the culmination of the Angels’ continued struggle to add enough arms to their starting pitching in both quantity and quality.
Earlier this winter, manager Joe Maddon put the Angels’ needs into relative terms, saying they had to add at least two starters to bolster what could be a six-man rotation in 2021. Given a starting pitching market that appeared to move slowly for just about every club but the Padres, it took until January 19 for the Angels to add that first piece.
On Tuesday night, the Angels agreed to terms with former All-Star left-hander José Quintana, sources told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. The deal, worth a reported $8 million for one year, reunites Quintana with Maddon, his former manager with the Cubs from 2017 to 2019.
Each of Minasian’s moves this offseason have all lined up to allow the Angels continued mobility in the future. The additions of José Iglesias, Raisel Iglesias, Álex Claudio, Kurt Suzuki and now Quintana — for a combined $23.25 million — all involve deals that expire after 2021, the same year Albert Pujols’ decade-long deal comes off the Angels’ books.
The moves also have kept open the opportunity to do more.
Quintana’s signing pushes the Angels’ projected 2021 payroll to around $172 million, according to FanGraphs’ Roster-Resource, with a luxury tax figure of around $187 million. Owner Arte Moreno claimed earlier this winter that the club’s major-league payroll will not decrease from the approximately $179 million (non-prorated) payroll and $190 million luxury tax figure they were slated for a year ago, according to those projections. Last week, Minasian declined to say how close the Angels would be willing to go toward reaching the first luxury tax level ($210 million). Under Moreno’s ownership, they have only crossed the luxury tax threshold one time, in 2004.
Advertisement
The pursuit of more starting pitching involves a thinner market, but it’s still one with options. The top free-agent starter, California native Trevor Bauer, remains unsigned, but he surely would command a large average annual value on a multiyear commitment. Four of the other top-10 free-agent starters on The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman’s pre-offseason list are still free agents. The Angels also have options on the trade market, among those who haven’t become Padres.
Quintana should add some certainty. The Angels have not signed a starter to a multiyear contract since giving Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson five years each for a combined $162.5 million over the span of a few months in 2011. But, at least on paper, the Quintana deal seems to be a better investment than some of the club’s recent disastrous one-year pacts.
He comes cheaper than Matt Harvey ($11 million), Trevor Cahill and Julio Teheran (both $9 million) and without the extensive injury history, inconsistency or puzzling peripherals of any of those three. His career is not on its last strings, as was the case when the pitching-strapped Angels signed Tim Lincecum during midseason in 2016. Quintana’s consistency and productivity were such that the trade that sent him from the crosstown White Sox to the Cubs yielded a gaudy return that included future big-leaguers Eloy Jiménez and Dylan Cease.
Quintana’s early tenure with the White Sox established him as one of the underrated and most consistent arms in the sport. He boasted an adjusted earned run average that was 15 percent better than league average and he showed a propensity to avoid hard contact. From 2014 to 2017, he compiled four consecutive seasons with a fWAR of 4.0 or better. The Angels have not had a 4-fWAR season from a qualified starter since Garrett Richards in 2014.
While looked more like a mid-rotation starter with the Cubs — his adjusted ERA has essentially been league average over parts of the last four seasons — Quintana has maintained much of his consistency and durability. After appearing in 25 games and compiling 136 1/3 innings as a rookie, he topped 200 innings over his next four seasons (2013-16) and pitched 32 or more games in every season through 2019. His strong peripherals made him a valuable starter for a Cubs team that struggled to develop its own pitching.
Advertisement
Quintana’s value was likely depressed due to an incomplete 2020 in which he rendered just 10 innings between fluke injuries and maladies. He suffered nerve damage in his left thumb that would eventually require surgery, after he accidentally cut himself while washing dishes prior to the pandemic-shortened 60-game campaign. He then missed time due to lat inflammation as he tried ramping up for the Cubs’ playoff push in September.
The one-year contract with the Angels presents a chance for Quintana to regain some value. It also shows the state of how the market has moved for non-Bauer starting pitchers this winter. To date, only two multiyear deals have been issued to free-agent starters: Mike Minor got two years and $18 million from the Royals, and Chris Flexen received two years and $4.5 million from the Mariners. Quintana’s $8 million guarantee is the sixth-highest for a starter this offseason, including the $18.9 million that Marcus Stroman and Kevin Gausman received for accepting qualifying offers.
But it also does not do enough for the Angels to be done shopping in 2021. Nor does it help them beyond that, especially with Dylan Bundy and Andrew Heaney each entering their final seasons before free agency.
| SLOT | PLAYER | HANDEDNESS | UNDER TEAM CONTROL THROUGH |
|---|---|---|---|
1 |  Pitcher X | TBD | TBD |
2 | RHP | 2021 | |
3 | LHP | 2021 | |
4 | RHP | 2026 | |
5 | LHP | 2021 | |
6? | RHP | 2024 | |
6? | LHP | 2027 | |
6? | RHP | 2026 |
“We’re open to anything,” Minasian said last week of the need to add a starter. “If there’s the right fit on a long-term deal and we feel like it’s the right move to make for the organization, we’ll do it.”
In a vacuum, Quintana checks off a ton of boxes that appear to make sense. It’s reasonable to be convinced about any move, particularly before a single pitch is thrown. But Tuesday’s move should be just one step toward addressing the Angels’ pitching needs.
(Photo of José Quintana: Charles LeClaire / USA Today)
