Scary details of Jose Quintana’s injury emerge for Mets

New York Mets pitcher Jose Quintana will be out at least three months, if not more. The details of his injury are scary to say the least.

New York signed Jose Quintana to a two-year, $26 million contract this offseason. The money spent was the least of Steve Cohen’s concerns, as Quintana’s deal is chump change to the Mets owner.

Quintana had a nice rebound season with the Pittsburgh Pirates and then St. Louis Cardinals, even pitching for the Cards in the postseason. In total last season, Quintana went 6-7 with a 2.93 ERA.

However, Quintana will miss at least the first three months of the season with a rib injury. However, that description doesn’t begin to put into words the scary nature of Quintana’s ailment.

Jose Quintana injury: Who will replace the Mets star

New York has at least two options when it comes to replacing Jose Quintana in-house, as Taylor Megill and David Peterson are the two most obvious choices. Both players have performed well in spring training, and could be used in a six-man rotation if the Mets opt to go that route.

Peterson returned from his own injury in a recent start, pitching four scoreless innings against the Washington Nationals. Megill also threw four scoreless innings in his last appearance, lowering his Grapefruit League ERA to 1.08. Billy Eppler spoke to the organization’s pitching depth as a strength.

“There’s a reason we go out and try to build as much depth as possible,” Eppler said. “I think there’s eight, nine, 10 starting pitchers on our depth chart that have pitched at the Major League level. That’s the reason for the depth. You’re trying to navigate a 162-game season over what, 183 days? You want to be positioned to navigate that whole course.”

With Quintana on the mend for the foreseeable future, that depth will be tested.