On Monday, Jon Lester signed a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals, officially marking the end of his time in Chicago. Later in the night, the Cubs lost the second member of their 2020 rotation, Tyler Chatwood, who signed with the Blue Jays (who also just happened to signed George Springer to a massive deal, in case you missed it).
(OMG: I’m so broken by this offseason I actually forgot to say In December, the Cubs traded away Yu Darvish).
And tonight, the Cubs will lose a *FOURTH* member of their rotation: Jose Quintana has reportedly signed with the Los Angeles Angels, where he’ll be reunited with Joe Maddon.
And he got a pretty fair deal, all things considered:
Jose Quintana is in a deal with the #Angels as @Ken_Rosenthal reported. Hear it is for 1 yr, $8M.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) January 20, 2021
A one-year deal always made sense for Quintana, 31, who made just four appearances this season (10.0 IP overall). He’s still relatively young and is probably a good bet to prove that he’s worth a humble multi-year deal from some team a year from now.
And since his profile doesn’t fit all that well in a rotation that already features Kyle Hendricks, Alec Mills, and Zach Davies, I’m not particularly heart broken to “miss out” on this deal. I’m just happy he found a welcome landing spot and is making some good money.
As for the Angels, I don’t quite think this necessarily takes them out of the running for a free agent starter like Trevor Bauer, whom they’ve been connected to this offseason, but we’ll have to wait and see. Clearly, the free agent market is beginning to move a little more quickly now. So pay attention. I think a lot of loose ends could be tied up this week.
UPDATE: Nope. Not out on another starter.
Confirming that #Angels, Jose Quintana have agreed to a one-year, $8 million deal. The LHP reunites with former manager Joe Maddon in Anaheim. Maddon said he'd like at least two SPs, so that's one down.
— Maria Torres (@maria_torres3) January 20, 2021
Oh, and the Cubs still need probably two more starters. Don’t forget that.