Rumor Roundup: Yankees interested in Quintana?

The Hot Stove season is underway, and we’re keeping you up to date with the latest free-agent news, trade buzz, rumors and more.

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Quintana could be next trade chip for White Sox

The Yankees might be ready to engage in talks for Jose Quintana.

A source told MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi on Monday that the Bronx Bombers are interested in the Chicago left-hander, who could be the next trade chip the South Siders move as they continue their rebuild.

Although Quintana isn’t quite in the same echelon as former White Sox lefty Chris Sale — who was traded to the Red Sox for four prospects — Quintana has been one of the American League’s best pitchers for the past four seasons, and he also has a team-friendly deal.

Quintana, who turns 28 in January, was 13-12 with a 3.20 ERA in 32 starts in 2016. He’s posted an ERA of 3.51 or lower while working at least 200 innings in four consecutive years.

Quintana is due to make $7 million in 2017 and $8.85 million in ’18, and he also has two team options ($10.5 million in ’19, $11.5 million in ’20).

The Yankees, thanks to last season’s non-waiver Trade Deadline deals of Andrew Miller, Carlos Beltran and Aroldis Chapman, have the type of prospects the White Sox have been looking for in exchange for Quintana.

Trio of southpaws on Toronto’s radar

Toronto is actively surveying the free-agent market for left-handed relievers, Morosi reported Monday.

Travis Wood, Jerry Blevins and Boone Logan are the trio the Blue Jays are showing the most interest in, per Morosi.

Wood, who turns 30 in February, had a 2.95 ERA in 77 appearances for the Cubs in 2016. He also would add rotation depth for the Blue Jays, as the 2013 All-Star worked exclusively as a starter for his first five seasons before shifting to the ‘pen the past two years.

Blevins, 33, posted a 2.79 ERA in 73 appearances for the Mets last season. He has a 3.44 career ERA in 10 seasons with the A’s, Nationals and Mets.

The 32-year-old Logan is coming off a season in which he posted a 3.69 ERA in 66 appearances in the final year of a three-year contract with Colorado. He has a 4.45 ERA in 581 career games with the White Sox, Braves, Yankees and Rockies.

Mariners interested in Fister

Morosi confirmed Monday that the Mariners have shown interest in free-agent right-hander Doug Fister, as Bob Dutton of The Tacoma News Tribune had previously reported.

Fister, who turns 33 in February, began his career with Seattle before being traded to Detroit in 2011. He is coming off a season in which he was 12-13 with a 4.64 ERA in 32 starts for the Astros.

Fister turned in a career year in 2014 with the Nationals, going 16-6 with a 2.41 ERA, but he has yet to regain that form since dealing with injuries in ’15.

Fister is 77-76 with a 3.60 ERA in eight seasons with the Mariners, Tigers, Nationals and Astros.

Rays may take a look at Bautista

Although Jose Bautista remains in talks with the Blue Jays, there are also rumors that he may join another AL East club — the Tampa Bay Rays.

In order for Bautista to play in Tampa Bay, where he already has a home, his price would have to drop, as the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin noted.

The Rays are searching for an additional bat, but are believed to be shopping below Bautista’s price range. Topkin believes the Rays will wind up with someone such as Pedro Alvarez, Ryan Howard, Brandon Moss or Chris Carter. However, if Bautista’s price drops and the club opts to splurge a little bit, the two may be a match.

In order to sign Bautista, the Rays would have to give up a pick in next year’s Draft. Tampa Bay’s top pick, No. 4 overall, is protected — meaning if the club did add Bautista, it would sacrifice the No. 31 overall pick.

Nationals targeting Wieters

Now that the Orioles have signed catcher Welington Castillo, their regional rival could find a match with former Baltimore backstop Matt Wieters, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney.

According to Olney, there is “rampant” speculation across baseball that the Nationals will eventually sign Wieters to fill the departed Wilson Ramos’ spot behind home plate. The Nationals have a number of Scott Boras clients on their roster and have never shied away from negotiating with him. And while Washington acquired catcher Derek Norris from the Padres on Dec. 2, an earlier report from MASN Sports speculated that the Nationals could still sign Wieters and trade Norris to another club.

Wieters, entering his age-31 season in 2017, hit 17 home runs with 66 RBIs and was selected to the All-Star Game last season, but he also posted his lowest OPS in four years. He had served as Baltimore’s primary catcher since 2009, but the Orioles decided not to extend him a qualifying offer and appear to have moved on by signing Castillo.

De Leon a trade candidate if LA lands Dozier The Dodgers have indicated that they might be willing to include their top pitching prospect, Jose De Leon, in a deal for Twins second baseman Brian Dozier, according to a report from Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan on Friday.

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According to Passan, De Leon makes sense as a target for the Twins, who already have a young core, and the Dodgers could afford to move the 24-year-old right-hander because of their wealth of near-Major League-ready starting pitching.

In addition to being the Dodgers’ No. 1 pitching prospect, De Leon is ranked as Los Angeles’ No. 2 overall prospect and the No. 33 prospect in baseball, per MLBPipeline.com. De Leon made his MLB debut in 2016, going 2-0 with a 6.35 ERA and 15 strikeouts over four starts.

Dozier, meanwhile, …

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