What the Jose Quintana deal can mean for MLB trade deadline

Perhaps the biggest trade of this July took place 2½ weeks before the non-waiver deadline, which spoke to the gravity felt by the struggling Cubs and the willingness of the White Sox to be open for business at all times.

Jose Quintana was dealt cross-town to the defending champs for the Cubs’ top two prospects, outfielder Eloy Jimenez and pitcher Dylan Cease, plus Bryant Flete and Matt Rose.

Quick thoughts on this deal:

1. For the Cubs, this had lots of similarities to the Rangers obtaining another lefty starter, Cole Hamels, in July 2015.

At the time the Rangers made that deal, they were underachieving at 49-52, eight games out of first place. The Rangers theorized the addition of Hamels would energize them in 2015. But it was a forward-looking deal, at least as much, to address an area of need because Hamels was under control for four more seasons (through 2019).

Texas rallied to win the division in 2015 and repeated last year.

The Cubs have a championship hangover. They are 43-45, 5½ games behind the first-place Brewers. They sure could use Quintana now as their rotation has performed so much worse than last year.

But the Cubs also were looking at a scary situation ahead — a young, exceptional positional core and not enough rotation to support it. Jake Arrieta and John Lackey are free agents after this season. Jon Lester will be 34 next year with big innings on his arm. There were no prospect arms immediately coming.

And as opposed to Hamels, who was one of the most expensive starters in the majors, Quintana is due $8.85 million in 2018 and $10.5 million as part of options in both 2019 and 2020. That will leave plenty of money to further address the rotation in the offseason.

As for the present, Quintana has a 4.49 ERA. But most scouts who have seen him say his stuff is the same as ever (he is striking out more than a batter per inning) and that getting away from a bad team and trade rumors should help. At the least, he is a bulldog en route to 30-plus starts for a fifth straight year, and the Cubs can use the sturdy rotation innings.

The White Sox, meanwhile, further deepen a minor league system that already was brimming after dealing away Adam Eaton and Chris Sale, and they still can move Melky Cabrera, Todd Frazier and David Robertson this month.

2. That the Cubs and White Sox did a deal of this size should remind teams like the Mets and Yankees they could do the same. There is often hesitation to trade even in the same division, much less the same city. But the idea of a swap is to do something you are comfortable doing to improve your product. There are only 29 other clubs to do that with, and to limit it because of proximity is silly.

The Yankees like Jerry Blevins (though his recent pitching might dissuade them). They might be able to make a case for Addison Reed or even Lucas Duda — though I continue to believe if Greg Bird doesn’t make it back, the Yankees would covet Oakland’s Yonder Alonso more. The Yankees have a deep system, and the Mets should not hesitate to dive into it because the clubs are separated by a bridge.

3. Over the past 12 months, the Cubs have traded Gleyber Torres, Jorge Soler and Eloy Jimenez. Torres and Jimenez were viewed as elite prospects at the time of their deals — Jimenez might be the No. 1 power prospect in the sport.

It should inform Yankees fans who are loving this young talent infusion that not every prospect is going to stick in New York.

The equivalent of a top hitting prospect in the game and a top-100 pitching prospect for the Yankees to get Quintana would have necessitated Gleyber Torres or Clint Frazier and Domingo Acevedo or Chance Adams to front a four-player package.

The Yankees were unwilling to go there now, or perhaps the White Sox simply liked the Cubs’ inventory better. There is some split on Jimenez. His detractors question his corner outfield defense and, thus, he needs to hit for huge power to justify his spot, but more scouts praise his overall hitting ability, not just his homer game. One personnel man said, “Between the Hamels and Quintana trade, Jimenez is the best prospect traded.”

There also is a general feeling the Cubs’ system is significantly down from a few years ago. Part of that is the young core of Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Kyle Schwarber, Willson Contreras and Ian Happ are in the majors. With Happ, Schwarber and Jason Heyward, there was not an obvious corner outfield role for Jimenez.

The Yankees have this picture as well. Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury are their version of Heyward (especially Ellsbury). Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge, Clint Frazier and Dustin Fowler (assuming his return to health) are options for 2018, and Blake Rutherford and Estevan Florial are on the horizon. The Yankees have too many outfielders to play simultaneously. Heck, even infielders Jorge Mateo and Tyler Wade are getting outfield reps.

Thus, they are going to have to use their depth to address major league needs — perhaps between now and July 31.

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