A New York Mets Starter Has Become a Real Issue

New York is in the midst of a tight wild card race. Right now, Jose Quintana is simply not cutting it. He is not pitching to a level that the team needs. Quintana has really struggled recently and the Mets have lost his last four starts.

The Mets cannot afford to continue using a starter every five games who does not put the team in a position to win.

Quintana struggled again yesterday. The issues started in the first inning. Quintana’s curveball is usually his weapon. When he is right, he drops his curveball in for a strike on the outside part of the plate at will against righties. But recently, Quintana has been hanging it.

The curveball does not have a sharp break. When it is left up in the zone, it is an easy pitch to hit. In the first inning, Quintana hung a 3-2 curveball to the worst person in the Orioles lineup to do that against. Anthony Santander destroyed Quintana’s curveball for a two run home run.

The Orioles added another run off Quintana in the third. A frustrating part of Quintana’s game is that he never seems to have a shutdown inning after the Mets score a run. New York got one back in the third. The momentum had begun to shift to their side. But Quintana gave up three runs in the top of the fifth and killed the Mets chances.

The left-hander's day ended with him giving up seven runs in five innings. Quintana has given up at least two walks in every outing this month and he has given up at least four runs in his last three starts. Quintana has not delivered in a pivotal month for the Mets. His ERA in August is 8.27.

Among qualified MLB starters, Quintana has the fourth worst expected ERA, second worst FIP and eighth worst WHIP.

The Mets appear to have no plans to remove Quintana from the rotation. It is nice that the Mets show confidence in their players but, eventually, enough is enough. It will be interesting to see how long the Mets keep him in the rotation.