Jose

Quintana

The 37-year-old southpaw suffered the injury during his season debut against the Marlins on Sunday. Valente Bellozo was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque in a corresponding move. It’s unclear if Bellozo will assume his spot in the rotation or if perhaps he’ll work as a long man in the bullpen while Chase Dollander slides into the rotation.

Quintana was making his debut with the Rockies, and it was an uninspiring one. He struggled to throw strikes with four walks, and he allowed four hits while striking out two. Could be worse, but you can do a lot better. He’s a terrible streaming idea for next weekend against the Phillies.

Quintana struck out two. He has a 9.72 ERA and an 8/6 K/BB over 8 1/3 innings in his three spring starts, but it doesn’t figure to have any effect on his status in the Rockies rotation.

The 37-year-old southpaw certainly didn’t help his own cause, issuing six free passes on the afternoon while punching out five. All of the damage done against Quintana came in the third inning as he allowed a walk and a pair of singles to load the bases, then proceeded to walk two runs in. He then exited with the bases still juiced and all three runners scored against the bullpen. He has been a disaster in Cactus League play — posting a 10.38 ERA and 2.54 WHIP over 4 1/3 innings, but given their alternative options, he’s still likely to open the season in the Rockies’ rotation.

Everything went south after Quintana’s outing, as Puerto Rico scored all of its runs in the fifth. Quintana had made just one appearance this spring after signing in mid-February, but he’s definitely on track to be ready to open up in Colorado’s rotation. His velocity today was up about one mph from last year.

Quintana showed no signs today of having been a late signing, as his velocity was already up to his 2025 levels. He struck out Nico Hoerner to start the bottom of the first, picked off Alex Bregman after a single and then got Ian Happ to ground out to end his inning.

It’ll be a one-year, $6 million deal. Quintana, who went 11-7 with a 3.96 ERA in 24 starts for the Brewers last season, will be the third veteran starter added by the Rockies, joining Michael Lorenzen and Tomoyuki Sugano. All seem likely to join Kyle Freeland in the rotation, leaving just one spot for Chase Dollander, Ryan Feltner or Tanner Gordon.

The Tigers seem intent on adding at least one more starting pitcher to their rotation mix before the 2026 season begins, but they appear to be shopping in the bargain bin. Petzold also notes that the Tigers have been linked to Chris Bassitt and Jose Quintana as well. The market has been remarkably slow to develop for Martinez and other mid-tier starting pitchers so far this winter.

Quintana hits the open market this offseason after a strong showing in Milwaukee where he posted a respectable 3.96 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 89/50 K/BB ratio across 131 2/3 innings over 24 starts. The 36-year-old veteran represents a back-end rotation stabilizer at this advanced stage of his career.

Things started rough for Quintana, as he gave up a 446-foot homer to Shohei Ohtani to begin his outing. He would allow two more runs in the inning, and while he settled down in the second — and final — frame, the damage was done. Quintana was signed to a one-year deal before the season, and likely will be looking at an incentive-laden contract in 2026 with either the Brewers or a new club.