BALTIMORE – As much as the crosstown Jose Quintana trade stunned the baseball world, the full ripple effect won’t be known for years.
The Cubs now have another All-Star lefty to pair with Jon Lester through 2020 and team president Theo Epstein is already thinking about how Quintana’s team-friendly contract could create the payroll space to add another superstar and build a dynasty on the North Side.
We don’t even really know how good Quintana can be after spending almost his entire career on bad White Sox teams, never pitching in the playoffs and getting most of his exposure through MLB Trade Rumors.
But this is exactly what Epstein envisioned when he gave up two blue-chip prospects in last week’s blockbuster deal, exactly what manager Joe Maddon hoped Quintana’s presence would do for a quiet clubhouse after an underachieving first half.
In a dazzling debut, Quintana absolutely shut down Baltimore in Sunday’s 8-0 win, the Cubs roaring out of the All-Star break with a three-game sweep where they scored 27 runs and got the kind of pitching that can carry them into October.
Maddon didn’t hesitate when asked for his most encouraging sign this weekend: “Energy.”
“I really believe that if we play with that kind of internal fire, that energy,” Maddon said, “we’re going to win a lot of games in the second half.”
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If this is how Quintana is going to respond to pennant-race pressure – and a sign that the defending champs have finally shaken off the World Series hangover – then Epstein’s front office will keep looking to add before the July 31 trade deadline and try to pack as much talent on the 25-man roster as possible.
Looking like a Game 1 starter in a playoff rotation – or Game 2 out of respect for Lester’s three World Series rings – Quintana struck out five of the first nine Orioles he faced and didn’t allow a hit until Adam Jones drove a ground-rule double into the left-field seats leading off the fourth inning.
At that point, the Cubs already had a six-run lead, the kind of offensive support Quintana rarely worked with while putting up a losing record (50-54) and getting 65 no-decisions since his big-league debut with the White Sox in 2012.
“That’s in the past right now,” Quintana said. “Honestly, sometimes I haven’t thrown the ball well, so it’s not about hitters. That happens. I’m just focused here and want to keep doing my job.
“I’m happy being here, and to see these teammates and how they play baseball. Every day is a good day, a good chance to get a W. I’m excited for that. I want to be part of that.”
Working quickly and efficiently on an 84-degree afternoon against a strong American League lineup, Quintana needed only 100 pitches to cruise through seven scoreless innings, allowing only two more singles and finishing with 12 strikeouts against zero walks.
It may have taken until Game 91 for a team that plays from behind and in scramble mode far too often, but Quintana probably put together the best pitching performance so far this season and made it look effortless.
“I really liked his routine on the mound,” Maddon said. “Really, tremendous focus per pitch. That’s what I took away from it. And then he’s able to execute. The ball had great carry at home plate. The curveball – not overusing it – using it at the right time. The changeup became more effective. But more than anything, I like the method. Deep breath, then he goes into his delivery, here comes the next pitch.”
Those 12 strikeouts matched the franchise record Matt Garza set in his Cubs debut on April 3, 2011. By early July that year, Garza said “we’re right where we need to be” after a comeback win in Washington left the Cubs 17 games under .500.
Where the Garza trade with the Tampa Bay Rays tried to patch things together and reopen a window that had already slammed shut, the Quintana deal showed a franchise that knows what it wants and where it plans to go.
“It obviously just gives us that extra confidence,” said Kris Bryant (3-for-4, 19th home run). “We have a lot of the same core that we had last year and we won the whole thing. And to add him for an extra three more years, too, I think it’s a great move.
“He’s going to be here for a while and I think we all feel really great about that.”
The Cubs are now 46-45 after being at the .500 mark 21 different times this season. The clubhouse understood the message the Quintana trade sent loud and clear: It’s go time.
“He could really be a big boom to us, there’s no question,” Maddon said. “Everybody else saw it. All the other starters saw it. We grab a lead, and then he pitched really well with a lead. There was no messing around. There were no walks. There are no bad counts.
“He made them put the ball in play and he’s punching guys out. He gets to two strikes, he was burying the curve and elevating with the fastball. He just did everything really well. Coming over from the White Sox to the Cubs, middle of the season, there’s got to be something going on there. And he handled it extremely well.”