What to expect from Jose Quintana out of the 'pen

 The Cubs are expected to activate Jose Quintana from the injured list today and instead of being inserted into the rotation he will be moved to the bullpen.

Obviously it's very disappointing for the Cubs who gave up a lot to acquire him from the White Sox in 2017. Quintana hasn't turned into the pitcher they expected him to be, but he still has the potential to be an asset for the Cubs out of the bullpen.

Quintana has made two appearances out of the 'pen for the Cubs in previous years. The first was in Game Five of the NLDS against the Washngton Nationals in 2017, but he went just two thirds of an inning giving up a hit and a walk so there isn't much to take from that. The other appearance was during the second game of the 2019 season where he went four innings against the Texas Rangers giving up two unearned runs on five hits while striking out eight.

Looking at the splits Quintana is significantly more effective the first time through the order than he is the second or third time through. Hitters posted just a .275 wOBA the first time through the order, compared to .364 the second time through and .326 the third time through. His strikeout numbers jumped significantly as well as he struck out 22.9 percent of hitters compared to 17.5 and 18.8 percent the subsequent times.

Quintana has also seen his velocity trend slightly downward during his time with the Cubs, so a move to a reliever could potentially help him try and bring his velocity up as he would be able to give maximum effort on each pitch instead of trying to conserve himself to go deeper into the game.

The move gives the Cubs a much needed lefty for the bullpen as well. Brad Wieck is still injured, and Kyle Ryan hasn't been effective to say the least with a 7.04 ERA in nine appearances along with his still significantly diminished velocity and horrible underlying numbers. Quintana is at his best against lefties as they posted a 2.42 FIP and a .265 wOBA in a 162 plate appearance sample in 2019.

The Cubs will still be looking to add to the bullpen prior to Mondays trade deadline, but adding Quintana could give the Cubs a much needed boost to a bullpen that could definitely use the help.