Should the Chicago Cubs pick up the Jose Quintana team option?

Chicago Cubs: The case for picking up the option

If there’s one thing we can say for Quintana, it’s that his arm has held up remarkably well and that he’s been durable. Quintana has made exactly 32 starts every year since 2013 (he has 30 so far in 2019); indeed, you know you can give him the ball every fifth day.

Though he hasn’t shown it lately, he does have a proven track record of success. Even this year, the worst season of his career, he still has an ERA that is almost exactly in line with the league average.

Considering that the Cubs hold a $1 million buyout, the question essentially becomes whether they want to pay $10.5 million to have Quintana pitch for them next year.

For a league average (at least in terms of ERA) pitcher, that’s still not a terrible deal, especially when we consider that an upgrade to the rotation via free agency would cost the Cubs a lot of money, while they have few logical internal options to replace his spot in the rotation next year.