Chicago Cubs: Starting rotation is primed for a strong year

No. 4 starter – Jose Quintana

When the Cubs acquired Jose Quintana from the Chicago White Sox, it, by all means, cost them a pretty penny. Two top prospects in Dylan Cease and Eloy Jimenez went to the White Sox, and everyone lost their minds. How could Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer trade Jimenez and Cease?? According to Cubs’ fans, it was a move the team would regret. Except it wasn’t because that’s not how Epstein and Hoyer look at it.

The Cubs still have a logjam of outfielders, and now the rotation is set for the next few years. Cease and Jimenez may turn out to be good ballplayers, but Quintana isn’t too bad himself. Quintana finished the season at 11-11 with a 4.15 ERA. But that didn’t tell the tale of what he did with the Cubs. He went 7-4 with the Cubs with a 3.74 ERA and had a few bad starts against Arizona and Philadelphia that inflated those numbers.

Quintana did, however, strike out 207 batters in just 188 2/2 innings. Signed through 2020, he may end up being a steal for the Cubs at just over $10 million for the final two years of his deal. The trade last season sparked the Cubs and led them to a division title. There’s no question that Quintana was a big piece of that, and will be for the next three years.