Upcoming Mets free agents: 1 to re-sign, 1 to bring back at the right price, 1 to drive away

The Mets should drive Jose Quintana away

There aren’t too many upcoming Mets free agents left that we’re eager to see leave town. Adam Ottavino? That seems too easy. He might not even get a chance to technically re-sign as he’s on the DFA bubble already.

What about Jose Quintana? He has experienced far more ups than the veteran reliever. He has also shown way too many downs to even be a thought for next year.

Through 24 starts he’s 6-8 with a 4.26 ERA. A low strikeout, high walk, and even more troubling tendency to give up home runs, his best days are behind him.

Unlike fellow free agent starters Luis Severino and Sean Manaea, the ceiling on Quintana seems to be a shorter outing. Severino and Manaea have had their difficulties. However, when they are good they have a more dominant factor Quintana seems to lack. His win last month over the New York Yankees was full of walks. His success early in July was largely due to facing the Washington Nationals in back-to-back appearances.

Quintana is a very average pitcher the Mets don’t need to bring back. A case could be made for Severino (although that’s shrinking) with a larger one for Manaea (he might be pricing himself up too high, though). Quintana has been far better than Carlos Carrasco was for the Mets last season and yet the confidence level every five days isn’t much different. He’s just okay and the Mets need to be more than that next year.