Cubs left-hander Jose Quintana underwent surgery on his left thumb, the team announced today. According to the team’s press release, Quintana suffered a laceration on his left thumb last week while washing dishes at home. The cut required five stitches, and Quintana ultimately required microscopic surgery to “further determine the extent of his injury.”
“The procedure identified a lacerated digital sensory nerve in his left thumb,” according to the Cubs. Quintana will be shut down from throwing for two weeks, and the team will make a further determination on his timetable for a return at that point.
It now seems likely that the ultra-durable Quintana will open the season on the injured list. Remarkably, that’d be the first IL stint ever for Quintana, who has averaged 32 starts and 193 innings per season since becoming a full-time starter in the Majors.
Quintana, 31, would’ve headed into the season hoping for a rebound campaign of sorts after struggling to a career-worst 4.68 ERA last season. The lefty was perhaps hampered, to an extent, by a .326 average on balls in play (career .304 BABIP) and even more so by a career-low 65.9 percent strand rate, which resulted in a more optimistic 3.80 FIP. That said, Quintana has turned in three straight years of an ERA north of 4.00, so a return to his 2013-16 form might not be realistic to expect, either.
The timing of the injury is particularly poor for Quintana, as he’s slated to become a free agent for the first time at season’s end. If he’s able to make it back to the mound in relatively short order, it’s possible that the injury won’t have much of an impact at all. Its fluke nature shouldn’t create the same type of concern that might arise in the case of a more problematic elbow or shoulder issue. But if Quintana misses a substantial portion of the season or struggles due to ongoing complications from an injury in his pitching thumb, he’ll head into what could already be a bleak free-agent landscape for players with some unwelcome red flags. There’s already been widespread speculation that owners will look to recoup some of this year’s revenue losses by scaling back free-agent spending, and entering the open market with any type of injury issue would only exacerbate matters.
As for the Cubs, if Quintana is to miss time early in the year, they’ll need to get creative or hope for some unexpected production from their already thin stockpile of rotation depth. Yu Darvish, Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks are locked in atop the rotation, and the team was already hoping for a rebound from righty Tyler Chatwood in the final season of his ill-fated free agent deal (three years, $38MM). Now, unproven Alec Mills becomes the favorite to take over the fifth rotation spot — barring any sort of outside addition.
There are still some unsigned veterans whom the Cubs could pursue on affordable deals — Tyson Ross, Marco Estrada, Clay Buchholz, Jason Vargas, Matt Harvey and Andrew Cashner among them — and teams are now free to trade once again. However, the Cubs have shied away from substantial spending in recent offseasons, and we’re less than a month removed from owner Tom Ricketts’ latest public comments about lack of resources and profitability in the game. A major financial addition doesn’t seem likely, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Cubs pick up some depth. The team only included 50 players in its initial player pool submission, so there are as many as 10 spots to work with (plus another if Quintana requires a lengthy IL trip).
When it rains it pours.
She like the way I rrrrrr
Doug Marcaida says hi
@Banesays
Calm down dude. You act like the entire starting rotation is on the IL.
Are you really going to be that heartbroken if the Cubs don’t win the WS this year? Even if the Cubs win it all this year, it won’t have the same feel as ’16, not even close.
Why is a multi millionaire doing his own dishes?
He was working his new pitch. Split finger fastball
There goes the season.
Covid19 strikes again
Yikes, bad luck for a rotation that needs all of the help they can get. Hopefully it’s not too serious and he can pitch this year
Don’t play with knives.
Probably just wants to be rested for the stretch run……..those dog days will be upon them before they know it.
Ruh roh. Maybe a trade w the Padres for Lucchessi could be an option?? If only Preller liked to make trades…
Davies would probably be a more realistic option
Good call as both will be expendable next year. But we didn’t trade for Davies to trade him this quickly?? He’s making a lot more than Lucchessi(5 mil before pro rated) Let’s grab some more long term talent
This is a clever way to opt out of the season and still get paid
Yup. Why would a multi millionaire be hand washing dishes, honestly
He had just gotten back after washing his clothes at the stream, beating them with a rock.
When an athlete describes how he got injured at home, the BS light needs to go on, and be worked from there.
Maybe this time when he tried to kidnap a prostitute she just happened to have a knife. Cut it washing dishes just sounds better.
Someone has to wash knives. Not everything goes in a dishwasher.
Right. Could be any number of other things, too. I thought for sure I needed stitches after I broke a wine glass while washing it not long ago. Thankfully wasn’t as bad as I initially thought.
Stuff happens. Some off-the-field injuries seem particularly worthy of skepticism — this doesn’t strike me as all that unbelievable.
Had a client who was a hand surgeon. She told me that before avocados became the critical food-stuff, bagels made for more cases than anything else.
yup I cut a good third of the way through my thumb cutting a bagel a couple months ago. Luckily if you cut yourself this way once, you’ll forever change how you cut bagels
True dat
Or you’ll buy the cheap ones that are pre-sliced.
Same reason MadBum rides dirt bikes — livin’ life on a prayer.
I have to imagine Q isn’t hand washing dishes for the same reason MadBum rides dirt bikes. Maybe he actually does really love the thrill of dishwashing, but I doubt it.
James Jones understands his struggles
The dishwasher is a convenient, modern home appliance.
Not for everything. You don’t have a block set of knives. Most people do.
You use them, wash them, and put them back in the block.
I put my knives in the dishwasher
Maybe Quinatana has a cheap Emmerill set w wooden handles
I don’t like waiting for my set of block knives.
I use them, quickly wash them and put them back.
Who in their right mind would put a knife in the dishwasher after using it to make a few cuts?
People who don’t want to wash dishes and instead use a dishwasher for its intended purpose. I don’t know how many knives you use compared to other dishes but I never run out of knives before having a full dishwasher.
Knives are sharp.
You handle them carefully.
Like pitching to Barry Bonds.
Correct. I would issue an intentional walk and let my wife wash them.
i have a japanese sushi knife from masamune. it’s not that expensive but top quality. i would not put in a dishwasher ever.
You’d think that when you’re worth $47M that “dishwasher” goes from name of an appliance to name of someone else
Halo11 is an expert on knives and dishwashing. The go to authority
You still have to rinse your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher.
Most people wash sharp knives by hand.
Most people do it carefully.
Most people aren’t LH pitchers.
Simon, I cant disagree. But accidents happen.
It is pretty impressive that this is his first stint on the DL, and it wasn’t even a pitching injury. Unfortunately for the Cubs, he hasn’t been the same guy he was with the Sox, but he was as dependable as they come.
yeah that’s thr irony of it. durable as it gets yet he’s their first SP to go down.
Ironic yes. Like 10000 spoons. When you’re looking for a knife
Brutal
If OJ can accidentally cut himself on a glass, anyone can.
OJ cut himself on a glass… right?
If the glove don’t fit
You must aquit
This is some Cubs bad luck/curse magic right here.
didnt they just win a WS? how are they cursed?
It was a joke, but yea something like this sounds like the product of the BIlly Goat Curse
More like the curse of a bad Theo decision.
A team already lacking in rotation depth now finds itself with 3 legit starting pitchers to open an abbreviated 60-game schedule. It’s not as if the Cubs have a deep bullpen either with starters not likely pitching more than 5 innings when the season begins later this month. Theo should be in the market for veteran SP depth as the team begins their 3 week summer camp this week.
3? Lester is getting kind of old, and Darvish has had one recent good 1/2 year.
Hey Rick- trade the Cubs Gio. Wouldn’t that be a kick in the head.
The reality is no one wants Cubs players in a trade. If they did, it would have been done by now.
I forgot how anemic this pitching staff was since the pandemic shut down baseball.
In December 1979 during my semester break from college, I worked at a 7-11 in New Jersey. The guy who trained me was the classic Mr, Perfect, always showing off his exemplary skills straightening shelves, taking out the trash, or demonstrating whatever task he was teaching me. On my third day, a customer ordered a sandwich. In preparing to make the sandwich, he was showing off and talking down to me so much that even the customer rolled his eyes. When slicing the roll, he tried to be fancy and cut the dickens out of his hand. Blood all over the bread, a total mess. The customer broke out laughing, watched him bleed a bit, then left the store.
Imagine trading Eloy for this guy
As a White Sox fan, I was ecstatic at getting Eloy. Then they got Cease as well, who could still develop into a quality mid-rotation piece. I was honestly hoping Q would put that one bad year behind him and go back to how he was before with the White Sox, when he was one of the top #2 pitchers in baseball. Shame it didn’t work out that way.
Digital??? Is he bionic?
Skepticism is THEE thing I guess. This is a good warning though. If you make a lot of money (relative to the national average..I guess) do NOT cut yourself with a knife at home because you will be accused of something else more insidious. Quintana should hire a maid or something and just except being resented for the money he makes instead. I imagine he is at least used to THAT.
I think a change of scenery and pitching coach could help him a lot. Great buy-low option next offseason for a moderate spending contender.
Like the White Sox.
That’s Cub.
Even if this season turns out to be a wash for Q (which hopefully he can still pitch this year), I hope the best for him with the next contract he signs, whether it’s with the Cubs or wherever else he goes. He was an underrated pitcher for the Sox, which is why the Sox were able to get so much for him.
Unfortunately the same can’t be said about him in a Cubs uniform. I think had there been a full season and this kitchen incident never happened (which is very possible, since he may not have been home on the date of the incident if there were a full season), he may still have been a big help to the Cubs push toward the playoffs (I still say the Cubs would’ve won the division had there been a full season).
Agree with everything, save Cubs winning the division. Cards can never be counted out and the Reds made vast improvements. Plus, the Brewers still have a shot with Yelich there. The Cubbies had a chance, but I’d have given them maybe a 30% chance.
That’s a big blow for the Cubs. They already didn’t have any decent options for their 5th starter, and now they’ll have to fight a very tight 4-way divisional race with only 3 decent to good starting pitchers for a good chunk of the season. Although, with only 60 games, they could still get lucky.
makes it an easy choice to say bye-bye at the end of the season. Brailyn Marquez will be in the rotation in 2021. Lefty with absolutely filthy stuff.