Report: Pirates have worked hard to land Quintana from White Sox

While much of the talk surrounding Neal Huntington's offseason has been about potentially finding a new home for Andrew McCutchen, the Pittsburgh Pirates general manager also appears interested in adding a high-profile name to his club.

The Pirates have reportedly "worked hard" to try to trade for Chicago White Sox starter Jose Quintana, according to Buster Olney of ESPN.

Quintana has drawn attention across the league since the White Sox signaled a willingness to deal after trading both Chris Sale and Adam Eaton away for prospects earlier in December.

The 27-year-old is among the top left-handers in the American League and is comfortably under team control through the 2020 season, owed just $37.85 million.

Quintana's team-friendly deal would fit perfectly into the long-term plans of the cost-conscious Pirates, who need starting pitching help. There is no shortage of competition, however, as the New York Yankees and Houston Astros are also believed to be in talks for his services, with the asking price said to be extremely high.

The White Sox reportedly asked the Astros for young right-hander Joe Musgrove along with the club's two top prospects.

Quintana is coming off the best season of his five-year career, in which he went 13-12 with a 3.20 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and 181 strikeouts over 208 innings. He's thrown at least 200 innings in each of the last four seasons.

The Pirates do have the prospect capital needed to swing a deal with the White Sox, as Tyler Glasnow (No. 8), Austin Meadows (No. 9), Josh Bell (No. 20), and Kevin Newman (No. 42) are all ranked among the top 50 prospects in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline.