Jed Hoyer on not trading for Justin Verlander: ‘Of course we have regret.'

Cubs GM Jed Hoyer was asked on 670 The Score if he had regrets over trading for José Quintana instead of Justin Verlander.

“Of course we have regret.”

In case you’ve somehow forgotten, the Cubs were one of Justin Verlander’s preferred teams before the trade deadline in August of 2017. The Cubs and the Detroit Tigers couldn’t reach a deal, but the Cubs had already traded for Quintana and were comfortable with where they stood. 

After the trade fell through, Verlander didn’t go away quietly, but instead reinvigorated his career on the Astros. The Astros traded three prospects—Franklin Perez, Daz Cameron, and Jake Rogers— in exchange for Verlander and boy did that pay off. Verlander went on the win the World Series with the Astros in 2017. With this most recent no-hitter, Verlander is a real contender to win his second Cy Young Award. Following this past Sunday's outing, he has a 2.43 ERA in 68 starts with Houston. And this doesn’t even include his nine postseason appearances since the trade.

Hoyer went on to say, “There's ones that you beat yourself up over because you think, 'What could we have seen differently? Could we have predicted this?' Obviously, we didn't. His late-career resurgence has been amazing.”

It’s hard to imagine what recent seasons would’ve looked like if Verlander made it to Wrigley like he had once hoped. Quintana was a promising veteran starter for the Sox, but following the trade his ERA has hovered around to 4.00 during his tenure with the Cubs. Overall Quintana has been a decent player with the Cubs, but what’s done is done, and it is an interesting (and mildly infuriating) to wonder “what if.”