Chicago Cubs can’t help but play ‘what if’ after Tuesday night’s loss

Chicago Cubs: Quintana wasn’t just a short-term move

While getting Quintana was certainly about helping the team in 2017, they were also looking ahead to the future. Quintana is on a team-friendly deal that keeps him under control until 2020 where he has a team option. The Cubs needed that desperately at the time with Jake Arrieta set to be a free agent and John Lackey ready to retire at the end of the season.

The move helped keep the Cubs’ starting rotation formidable and allowed them to make another splash in the offseason to put it together. Although the two moves didn’t necessarily work out as well as they would have liked, it allowed the Cubs to go sign Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood in the winter to round out their rotation heading into 2018.

Since then Quintana has continued to be consistent and durable as he has been throughout his entire career. Since his rookie season, he has made 32 starts or more every year. He’s continued that durability for the Cubs starting 46 games over the last year-and-a-half.

While he has been reliable he hasn’t necessarily taken that next step that many Cubs fans were hoping he would. When the club traded for Quintana, many believed he could be a top-three pitcher in the rotation but if you look at the rotation now, he is probably the Cubs’ fifth starter. That’s slightly disappointing, considering the Cubs had to give one of the top prospects in all of baseball to get him.

But in all fairness, if it wasn’t for the acquisition of Quintana the Cubs probably wouldn’t be where they are now. The Brewers could have gotten Quintana back in 2017 and the Cubs could have missed the playoffs entirely and gone into the offseason needing three starting pitchers.

So while he hasn’t pitched like an All-Star like we hoped he would he has still brought a ton of value to the Cubs. He has helped keep the Cubs Championship window open and helped the Cubs reach the playoffs over the course of the last three seasons.

Ultimately, Jimenez and even Cease weren’t ready or able to help the Cubs compete for a World Series at that time. The Cubs weren’t going to call either of them up in 2017 or 2018, so instead, they traded their value for someone they believed would get them over the hump.

I think we all just get caught up in comparing Quintana to the potential that Jimenez has continued to show on the South Side. I think that’s how it will always be unless the Cubs win a World Series with Quintana.