By John Dempsey, WLS-AM News
(CHICAGO) A blockbuster trade Thursday morning involving the White Sox and the Cubs. The Sox are sending left-handed pitcher José Quintana to the Cubs for outfielder Eloy Jimenez, right-handed pitcher Dylan Cease, and infielders Matt Rose and Bryant Flete.
Quintana, 28, was a 2016 All-Star and is 50-54 with a 3.51 ERA (412 ER/1,055.1 IP) in 172 major league appearances, all but three as a starter, over the last six seasons with the White Sox (2012-17). He has made 32 or more starts while reaching 200.0 or more innings in each of the last four campaigns.
Last season, Quintana went 13-12 with a 3.20 ERA (74 ER/208.0 IP) in 32 starts, earning his first-career All-Star nod. He set career highs in innings pitched, strikeouts and wins while limiting his opponents to a .246 batting average, .295 on-base percentage and .393 slugging percentage, good for a .687 OPS against.
Jiménez, 20, is batting .271 (42-155) with eight home runs, 32 RBI and 23 runs scored over 42 games this season with Class A Myrtle Beach in the Carolina League. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Jiménez missed the first six weeks of the season with a right shoulder injury but rebounded to earn a spot on the World Team at the All-Star Futures Game for the second consecutive season.
Cease, 21, is 1-2 with a 2.79 ERA (16 ER/51.2 IP), 74 strikeouts and a .214 (39-182) opponents average over 13 starts this season with Class A South Bend. He has allowed one or no runs eight times and three hits or less 10 times while averaging 12.9 strikeouts per 9.0 IP. Cease threw 6.0 hitless IP on April 19 at Great Lakes and struck out 10 batters over 4.2 IP on April 29 at Fort Worth.
Flete, a 24-year-old switch-hitter, is hitting .305 (84-275) with 15 doubles, six homers, 37 RBI, 45 runs scored and a .355 on-base percentage in 70 games with Myrtle Beach this season. He ranks seventh in the CL in average and is batting .407 (24-59) with RISP and .429 (12-28) with RISP/two outs.
Rose, 22, is hitting .227 (53-233) with 15 doubles, 14 home runs, 38 RBI and a .481 slugging percentage over 65 games with Myrtle Beach in 2017. His 14 homers are tied for fifth in the Carolina League.
The White Sox say that with the addition of Jiménez (No. 8) and Cease (63), the White Sox now possess nine of the Top 100 prospects in baseball according to MLB.com, tied for the most in the major leagues. The former top two prospects in the Cubs organization join infielder Yoán Moncada (1), right-hander Michael Kopech (11), outfielder Luis Robert (23), right-handers Lucas Giolito (28), Reynaldo López (36) and Carson Fulmer (59) and catcher Zack Collins (68) on the MLB.com Top 100 list.
White Sox senior vice president/general manager Rick Hahn issued a statement on the trade. “It is always extremely difficult to trade a person and player like José Quintana,” said Hahn, “but difficult as it was, this deal moves us closer to our goal of building a team capable of contending for multiple championships over an extended period of time. José, our scouts and coaches throughout the organization deserve a tremendous amount of credit for his development from a minor-league free agent signee to one of the most sought-after talents in the game.”
@ 2017 WLS-AM News
