Chicago Cubs: Jose Quintana will always be team’s most-criticized arm

Chicago Cubs: An up-and-down performance so far

This wasn’t a good effort – plain and simple. On the year, the lefty carries a 4.46 ERA – over three-quarters of a run higher than his career average. He’s pitched particularly poorly at Wrigley Field, evidenced by a 5.00 ERA in 10 starts.

More from Cubbies Crib

• Cubs should keep close eye on non-tender candidate Cody Bellinger
• Cubs starting pitching has been thriving on the North Side
• Make no mistake: the Cubs are very much about power hitters
• Cubs are giving pitcher Javier Assad a deserved shot
• Cubs: It’s time to start thinking about potential September call-ups

This is a guy who is more than serviceable as a third starter in the postseason – when he’s pitching like he has in most of his career. I’m not saying he’s doing that this season, because he’s not. But he’s absolutely capable of it.

Heading into the All-Star Break, I was fine with what we’d gotten from the former White Sox hurler. A 3.96 ERA, .242 opponent average and, most importantly, he took the ball 18 times. But since the Midsummer Classic, things have been a mess – and that’s putting it mildly.

In five second half start, he’s totaled just 25 2/3 innings, allowing 28 hits – six of which have left the yard.

Granted, those numbers certainly weren’t helped by Tuesday’s showing, but the fact remains the same – the Cubs need more from their prized midseason acquisition from a year ago.

And therein lies the problem.

Chicago Cubs: A high price that will follow him forever

Cubs fans aren’t the most rational creatures in the world. We all know that much (especially post-World Series championship). And, for that reason, Jose Quintana will never be good enough.

In pursuit of a second title, Chicago sent a prospect package headlined by Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease to the South Side in exchange for Quintana. And, by and large, he held up his end of the bargain down the stretch, pitching to a 3.74 ERA and 1.103 WHIP in 14 starts.

But that’s not what you expect when you trade two prospects who appear, by pretty much every account, to have very bright futures ahead of them. Sure enough, Jimenez carries a .980 OPS this year between Double and Triple-A. Cease, meanwhile, has 146 strikeouts in 118 innings, pitching to a 12-2 record and 2.52 ERA. In short, they’re both blossoming onto some of the best prospects in the game.

And with each success, they further cement the begrudging attitude so many Cubs fans hold toward Jose Quintana. Never mind the fact he’s always been a middle-rotation arm (and that’s what the Cubs traded for him to be). Fans want an ace – and they’ll be disappointed till he throws his last pitch on the North Side if that remains the case.