Jose Quintana is officially back, and he’ll start tonight for the Cubs. It’s highly unlikely he can go more than a few innings at most, but it would be really comforting to see him look good out there for two or three innings. Would be nice to know he’s a weapon you have in advance of the playoffs.
Meanwhile, Quintana is taking the spot of Rex Brothers, who got one successful inning of low-leverage work, but it was always highly unlikely he was going to make the playoff bullpen.
In turn, that means Adbert Alzolay – called up yesterday – is staying up, and is part of the bullpen. I could see him piggybacking off of Quintana tonight, or I could see the Cubs trying to give him a legit “reliever” look in this final week to see what they have. I’m OK with it either way, but man, I sure would like to see what Alzolay could do if he were given one inning and told this is your single inning for the night, go make fire.