Cubs' Jose Quintana Blockbuster Is Needed Win-Now Risk Without Blowing Future

For the Chicago Cubs, "now" was never supposed to last just one year.

Now was last year, as Theo Epstein so aptly put it when he traded for Aroldis Chapman ("If not now, when?"). Now is this year, as the Cubs showed again Thursday by trading for Jose Quintana. Now is next year and the year after that, too, because trading for a 28-year-old starter under control for three more seasons after this one means the Cubs didn't really mortgage the future Thursday.

They just rearranged it a little, and they hope in the process rearranged the 2017 race in not just the National League Central but perhaps the entire National League.

Quintana isn't the game-changer in the rotation Chapman was in the bullpen. His acquisition may not be enough, especially if Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta don't pitch better in the second half.

"He's probably not the guy you want starting Game 1 of the World Series," a National League scout said. "But you'd be happy to start him in Game 3."

Quintana, in other words, isn't Chris Sale. He could well be the best starting pitcher traded this month, but when I suggested that to the NL scout, he mentioned that Johnny Cueto and Justin Verlander could still be moved. But even if the Cubs could have gotten one of them for something similar to what they gave up for Quintana, that doesn't mean they should have.

The Cubs gave up a lot—a four-player prospect package headed by outfielder Eloy Jimenez and pitcher Dylan Cease—because Quintana can help them for more years than just 2017. They did it because they need pitching now, with John Lackey and Kyle Hendricks on the disabled list, and will need pitching in the near future, with Lester and Lackey aging and Arrieta headed for free agency.

The White Sox seem to be doing well with rebuilding, adding Jimenez and Cease to guys like Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech and Lucas Giolito that they acquired in the Sale and Adam Eaton deals last winter. All credit to owner Jerry Reinsdorf for allowing his front office to rebuild, and general manager Rick Hahn and his staff for holding out for big returns.

Full credit, too, for not limiting themselves by refusing to deal with an in-city rival.

"Rick made it clear as far back as the winter meetings he had no restriction on who he could deal with," an NL executive said Thursday.

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And full credit to Epstein and his Cubs front office for understanding that one reason you gather top prospects is to use some of them in trades when you have a chance to win now.

MLB.com had ranked Jimenez and Cease Nos. 1-2 on the list of Cubs prospects, but they're 20 (Jimenez) and 21 (Cease) and have yet to play above Class A. They weren't going to help the Cubs win another World Series this year—not unless they traded them for someone who might.

If this were two years ago, and the Cubs were coming out of the All-Star break two games under .500 and 5.5 games out in the National League Central, perhaps they don't make this deal. But this is a team coming off a World Series title, with a seemingly beatable Milwaukee Brewers team leading them in the division.

Is Quintana enough, I asked an American League scout who follows the NL Central.

"In this division, perhaps," he said. "If the injured pitchers aren't too far away."

One more thing to remember: It's July 13, not July 31.

"I don't think we're done yet," a person familiar with the Cubs' plans said.

They'll try to add to the bullpen, or at the very least help raise bullpen prices for their NL rivals who need bullpen help more than they do (the Washington Nationals, for one). Maybe they do something else.

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Already they have Quintana, in the first big deal of baseball's trading season.

He's a better pitcher than his 4-8 record and 4.49 ERA with the White Sox this year suggest. One American League scout who knows him believes going to the National League and to a team that will catch the ball better than the White Sox do will help Quintana.

"He's a really good solid starting pitcher," the AL scout said. "But if you're telling your front office he has a 70 curveball or a 70 changeup [on a 20-80 scouting scale], you're lying. He's not the dominating top-of-the-rotation guy."

Those guys don't seem to be on the market this month. And those guys cost even more than what the Cubs gave up Thursday.

To get one of them, even if one becomes available, would mean trading from the Cubs' major league core.

Jimenez should develop into a middle-of-the-order hitter, according to scouts who have seen him. Cease should be a legit major league starter, eventually.

Neither one is a "now" player, which is fine on the rebuilding South Side but not too useful a few miles north.

At Wrigley Field, now still means now.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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