José Quintana Injury: Ribs Fracture Likely Leaves Lefty Out Until Summer

The Mets announced that newly-added southpaw starter José Quintana suffered a stress fracture in the fifth rib on his right side during his spring training start on Sunday. 

Quintana faces an extended spring training and will need at least three months to recover from the injury, according to the Pro Baseball Docs, which would sideline the 34-year-old into June.

Tall left-handed starter Chris Sale similarly suffered a rib stress fracture in mid-February, 2022, and made his season debut on July 12th before a line drive to his left hand prematurely ended his campaign. 

Sale's rib fracture was on his right side, while Quintana's is on the left.

The Mets let right-handed starting pitchers Jacob DeGrom, Taijuan Walker and Chris Bassitt walk in free-agency and replaced the trio with Quintana, 30-year-old all-star Kodai Senga from Japan's NPB and defending AL Cy Young Justin Verlander. 

Quintana had a career year in 2022 for the Pirates and Cardinals with a 2.93 ERA, 137 strikeouts, and a league-low 0.4 home run rate in 165.2 innings over 32 starts.