Ask BD: What about those three-team Jose Quintana rumors?

Thanks, all, for your questions, and keep them coming. Here’s the first round of answers.

WTM: I'm assuming you saw the rumors about a three-way trade involving Andrew McCutchen and Jose Quintana, but MLBTR never picked it up. Did it fall short of some standard? It looks now like the Yankees want Quintana for themselves, which was exactly Jon Heyman’s reaction to the rumor.

I don’t think it even came across our Twitter feed, which, yes, generally means we’re not supposed to cover it. I don’t mean to speak ill of the guy who broke it, who for all I know could be correct, but we only cover stories that are broken or verified by established reporters, and that’s a pretty good standard for Bucs Dugout as well.

Anyway, I worked for MLBTR most of the day on Christmas Eve, then headed to a music gig at a church service, where I first heard about the rumor from my high school orchestra director. My first reaction was to think I’d somehow missed something, but my second reaction was that the rumor didn’t make a ton of sense.

In case anyone else missed it, the idea was that the Pirates would send McCutchen to the Yankees, the White Sox would send Quintana to the Pirates, and both the Pirates and Yankees would send young players to the White Sox, whose end of the deal would be highlighted by Tyler Glasnow.

The problem, as Heyman pointed out, was that, if the Yankees were going to get involved in a Quintana deal, they would probably want Quintana for themselves, since they need rotation help far more than they need outfielders. They could trade for McCutchen and then deal fellow outfielder Brett Gardner, maybe, but that seems convoluted.

Maybe this deal actually was discussed at some point — who knows? I’m not inclined to worry too much about it, though.

UPDATE: As I was writing this, Bob Nightengale tweeted that the Pirates, Yankees, and White Sox did, in fact, discuss a three-team deal. So there you go.

Hoover53: Will Brady Dragmire win the Cy Young in 2017?

He’ll be unable to pitch in April or May after being designated for assignment nine times during that span, so despite a spectacular run in June through October, he’ll come up short.

One good thing about the farcical series of DFAs and claims to which Dragmire has recently been subjected is that it’s happening in the offseason. When this kind of thing happens during the season or during Spring Training, it can really mess with a player’s career, particularly since players who are repeatedly DFA’ed and claimed are by definition on the fringes of 40-man rosters anyway. You can’t play competitively while you’re waiting for a team to claim you, and that leads to problems, as serial claimee Alex Hassan pointed out a couple years back. Let’s hope what’s going on with Dragmire doesn’t continue too much longer.

2010 will be the year: What is your second favorite SB Nation blog?

McCovey Chronicles.

MarcBenning: If the Pirates fall below .500, do you see a change in the public opinion that currently is content with almost everything this front office does?

That opinion is held by maybe two percent of fans.

Joey Mooney: Who is the Pirates’ fourth outfielder this year? With all the talk of a top-of-the-rotation arm, I have heard nothing about a fourth outfielder. They trust Alen Hanson, Adam Frazier, Josh Harrison, John Jaso, Josh Bell, and possibly Jose Osuna? Jose Tabata looked good in the winter leagues.

It would be hilarious if it were Tabata, but that’s not happening. And yes — they’ll probably trust the guys they have. They’ve already trusted Frazier and Harrison in the outfield in the past (although Harrison will likely play second base almost exclusively, just like he did last year). My guess is that Bell will slide to the outfield if both he and Jaso are in the game, but if Jaso needed to play outfield on occasion, that would probably work too.

The problem is that, unless the Pirates trade Jaso, they don’t have a ton of flexibility to add more of an outfield-only player. Jaso’s contract is guaranteed, as is David Freese’s. The Bucs have to carry a backup catcher. And Frazier has been too good and useful to not include. That leaves the Pirates with only one more bench spot, which will likely go to someone who can play middle infield, probably Alen Hanson.