Chicago Cubs: This winter should provide financial clarity

Chicago Cubs: What will they do with Quintana, Morrow?

One of the more underrated aspects of this upcoming winter could be whether or not the Cubs decide to retain Jose Quintana and Brandon Morrow.

Epstein got extremely aggressive when he traded top prospects Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease to the Chicago White Sox to acquire Quintana before the deadline in 2017. Since then, Quintana has been mostly mediocre on the North Side.

In 66 starts, Quintana sports a 4.10 ERA. Although his K/9 has increased since coming to the Cubs, he is also giving up more home runs, and his walk rate has increased as well.

Meanwhile, Morrow’s situation is wholly different, albeit just as frustrating. After signing with the Cubs in December of2017, Morrow was lights-out as Chicago’s closer in the first half of the 2018 season.

However, he has not thrown a single inning in over a year, and there is a reason to believe that Morrow will not return this season either.

Both players have team options for 2020 and will be owed close to $25 million combined. It is not reasonable to think that the Cubs could decline at least one–if not both–club options to free up payroll.

Quintana has been mostly underwhelming, and Morrow’s injury history is extremely grim. Why spend $25 million on two players that have combined for just over 4.0 fWAR in the last two years?