3 Mets player who will be better in 2023, 2 who will be worse

5) NY Mets will see Jose Quintana be more like his old self

Age is more than just a number. It’s a good indication of what an athlete will do. A recently turned 34-year-old Jose Quintana will experience a similar decline as Marte. Their career paths are very different with Marte consistently playing well in recent years and Quintana only getting back to his best last season.

Quintana is coming off of an impressive year in which he finished 6-7 with a 2.93 ERA. It’s what he did early on with the Pittsburgh Pirates and how he finished with the St. Louis Cardinals which is what has Mets fans most excited about him.

Quintana won’t be nearly as good as he was overall last year. His Pirates numbers, which include a 3.50 ERA and 1.27 WHIP, are more line with what he has done for most of his career and over the last few seasons.

It’s hard to ignore the injuries and poor performances Quintana has battled through for many seasons. He is the kind of pitcher who will rarely make it past six innings. The Mets should, at best, hope he can have something close to the 3.75 ERA he comes to New York with this year.

Quintana will have to show early on that last year’s success was no accident. He’s a good arm to have but there is no way he is anywhere close to as good as he was in 2022, especially once he joined the Cardinals.