Chicago Cubs: Jose Quintana hopes to break through mediocrity

Chicago Cubs’ starter Jose Quintana got a taste of the good life with the Cubs. After his offense on the South Side struggled to provide run-support for him, he finally got some from the Cubs.

When you spend your career in mediocrity, you have to believe there’s something better out there. That was the case for Chicago Cubs‘ pitcher Jose Quintana as he came over from the White Sox. Currently, he sits at a 57-57 record; he was 50-54 when he came to the Cubs. Take that and multiply it times two, and you’ve got a 14-6 record. That should make the lefty feel a little bit better about things.

Quintana came from the White Sox with a struggling offense to support him. In 169 starts with the Sox, they scored twice, once or not at all in nearly two-thirds of his starts. We often have watched Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester or even Jake Arrieta and thought, “two runs won’t win this game.” But for Quintana, those two runs would beat him more often than not.

A new side of Chicago, a new Q

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After a start with the Cubs that saw him get 13 runs of support in his first 23 1/3 innings, Quintana has high hopes for himself and the Cubs.

"“We’ve got a really good team here,” Quintana said, “and I saw that support the second half when I played here. It’s really exciting when you see that. … We have really, really good hitters, so I hope to get that support all [this] season and win more games for the team.”"

Indeed, Q is right. And he was lucky enough to have the “good offense” in the second half, as compared to the one that struggled in the first half.

With a full season of a talented and hopefully potent Cubs offense, Quintana hopes to do more damage this season and take down opposing hitters.

"“I want more wins,” he said Monday at Sloan Park after throwing five innings in a simulated game against Cubs minor leaguers. “I think this is my year. This is our year.”"

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His “audition,” if you will, went very well last season. He looked dominant at times, but also as he did in the playoffs. Very unsure and timid. But Quintana doesn’t expect that to be his last shot at the playoffs. On the contrary. He plans to go even deeper into the playoffs this season.