Cubs or White Sox, who won the Quintana trade?

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The Cubs have been looking for starting pitching help for some time. They found some not far from home. The Cubs picked up Jose Quintana for prospects Eloy Jiminez, Dylan Cease, Matt Rose and Bryant Flete. I'd like to see a headline, “Bryant traded for Quintana. It's a deal that makes sense for both teams.

Looking for Mr. Goodarm

The Cubs desperately needed starting pitching and Quintana is one of the best available. Not only is he good, he's cost controlled through 2020. By the way, would you want to be known as the agent who negotiated that contract for Quintana? I'm thinking it might be a good idea for him to leave that off his resume. I think the Cubs will still make another trade or two. I wouldn't be surprised to see them pick up a rental starter. Even if they don't, their rotation should be much better in the second half.

The first precinct to report.....

The Cubs can now roll out a rotation of Lester,Quintana,Hendricks,Arrieta and Montgomery. John Lackey could also figure in the mix. That should be good enough to make a second half run at the division.

Is it a state law?

I'm somewhat of an anomaly in that I root for both the Cubs and the White Sox. I'm happy to see both teams being ran buy smart baseball people. Listening to both the Cubs and White Sox front offices speak about the trade is impressive. Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer both come across as articulate bright. Rick Hahn projects a similar image.

Prior to the trade I admit I was kind of hoping that the Sox would hold on to Quintana but I've consigned myself to sit back and watch the outcome of the trade. The Sox needed a power hitting corner outfielder and Jiminez could fill the bill. Dylan Cease could be a member of the Sox rotation when they are good, hopefully in 2019 or 20.

Matt Rose and Bryant Flete figure as organizational depth. Rose is a first baseman with some power and Flete is an infielder with decent on base skills.

Possible outcomes

Some might think the Cubs overpaid, but I don't think so. Jiminez could be great and I hope is. Of course he could also be Jorge Soler 2.0. Dylan Cease may become a number to starter, but any young pitcher is iffy.

Last season the Cubs gave up four players for Aroldis Chapman. Outside of Gleyber Torres, do you remember the other three? One was Adam Warren, who pitched poorly for the Cubs. The other two were Billy McKinney and Rashad Crawford. McKinney is doing well at the Yankees AAA team. Crawford is now in AA ball. How do you rate that trade?

Chapman repeat?

In the Chapman trade, the Cubs aren't getting any on field benefit from Chapman. They did, however, win their first world series in 108 years. Chapman played a big role in that. The Yankees could well benefit from that trade for years. Still, there's no way the Cubs lost that trade. The Cubs trade for Quintana could turn out the same way.

More next time.