Cubs starting pitcher Jose Quintana injures thumb badly washing dishes

Jose Quintana (Arturo Pardavila III, Wikimedia Commons)

According to ESPN on Friday, Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jose Quintana of Arjona, Colombia severely cut his thumb this week from washing the dishes. Quintana required surgery to repair the laceration and will now be sidelined for a minimum of two weeks. It is now unsure if he will be ready to start in the Cubs rotation when the season hopes to commence on July 23 or 24.

Quintana tied a career-high in wins with the Cubs in 2019 as he had 13 victories. He also had only nine defeats, and an earned run average of 4.68. In 171 innings pitched, Quintana had 152 strikeouts, gave up 191 hits and 89 earned runs. He also had a rather high WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched of 1.34).

A reason why Quintana has been so valuable in Chicago (six seasons with the White Sox and three seasons with the Cubs), is related to his durability. He has 1485 career innings pitched and averages 204 innings pitched per season. In an era where teams use up a lot of relievers, to have a starter that can go deep into baseball games and be effective past the sixth inning is very valuable.

Quintana also has pitched two complete games with a shutout in his career. The first was in a 6-0 White Sox win over the Cleveland Indians on July 24, 2015, and the second was in a 5-0 Cubs win over the Milwaukee Brewers on September 24, 2016.

Also an All-Star with the White Sox in 2016, that year Quintana had a record of 13 wins and 12 losses, and set a career-high in innings pitched (208) and had an excellent earned run average of 3.20. In 2020, Quintana was set to be the Cubs’ third starter behind Yu Darvish and Kyle Hendricks.