Chicago Cubs: Jose Quintana trade now looks bad

The Chicago Cubs paid a steep price in acquiring left-hander Jose Quintana from their cross-town rivals, back in mid-July.  Right now, Theo Epstein’s bold move is not faring well for the defending champs.

The Chicago Cubs could not have expected Jose Quintana to pitch like he has since joining the organization via trade back in July. Disregarding a masterful, seven-inning shutout performance in his very first start with his new team, Quintana has looked like a shadow of himself.

His struggles go beyond his latest dud, a six run shellacking over 5 innings of labor against the woeful Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night. Since joining the Cubs, Quintana has an alarming 4.50 ERA in eight starts. That’s not what the organization signed up for when they sent off both their top hitting and pitching prospect in exchange.

Supposed to have been an innings eater, along with being a reliable force for an underachieving starting rotation, Quintana has been the exact opposite up to this point. He’s failed to make it past 6 innings in his last seven starts. Getting hit real hard from opposing batters in the process. As noted by his seven home runs given up already since joining the team.

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The most disappointing part of the Quintana trade might not be even what he can control. But rather, what he can’t.

Former top-prospect is now lighting it up on the other side

So far, top prospect Eloy Jimenez, who the Cubs gave up in exchange for Quintana, seems to have only gotten better since joining the White Sox minor league system in mid-July. In 41 games played in low A-ball competition, he’s already hit 10 home runs, while batting .337. Much better than his .271 average and eight home runs in 42 games played at Single-A with the Cubs, prior to being traded.

It’s painful to see a prospect as promising as Jimenez depart from the organization. Even worse though, when the pitcher the organization went all in on in exchange for is hurting his new ball club’s chances at winning, more times than not.

Still time to improve

The fortunate news for Cubs fans everywhere is that Quintana still has plenty of time to correct his pitching woes. He’ll make at least 5 more starts for the Cubs before playoffs begin. Enough time to get back to pitching more like the player the organization hoped they’d be getting early on.

Of course, even if Quintana pitches his way out of this dreadful funk soon, every future home-run hit by Jimenez will still be a painful reminder of what the Cubs gave up in exchange for Quintana’s services.

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A pitcher, who may have already hit his ceiling as a player, even before coming over to the Chicago Cubs. While Jimenez, a player, still in the beginning stages, of figuring out just how high his ceiling can go.