Cubs pick up $10.5 million option on Quintana
The Cubs are spending the early part of Major League Baseball's off-season tying up loose ends.
On Wednesday they picked up the club option on left-handed starting pitcher Jose Quintana. They also claimed left-handed reliever Jerry Vasto off waivers from the Kansas City Royals.
Quintana, who turns 30 in January, had a $10.5 million club option for 2019, as he does for 2020. This past season, he went 13-11 with a 4.03 ERA in 32 starts. He matched his career high in wins and has reached 32 starts six seasons in a row.
The Cubs obtained Quintana from the White Sox in a July 13, 2017 trade that cost the Cubs prospects Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease, among others.
In his time with the Cubs, Quintana is 20-14 with a 3.93 ERA.
Vasto, 26, made his major league debut in June with the Colorado Rockies before being traded to the Royals Aug. 31. He appeared in six games, going 0-1 with an 8.31 ERA.
The Cubs have until the end of the week to pick up other club options, including that of left-handed pitcher Cole Hamels, who came to the team in a July trade with Texas. Hamels was 4-3 with a 2.36 ERA in 12 starts with the Cubs. He had the team's only complete game of the season.
According to another report, reliever Brandon Kintzler exercised his $5 million player option Wednesday, one day after the Cubs declined their $10 million option. Kintzler came to the Cubs in a July 31 trade with Washington. With the Cubs, he was 2-1 with a 7.00 ERA and a high WHIP of 2.00.
Extending partnerships
The Cubs have agreed on two-year player development contract extensions with their Class AAA Iowa, Class AA Tennessee, Class A Myrtle Beach and Class A South Bend affiliates through the 2022 season.
Class A Eugene signed a four-year extension through 2022 this past August.
Before these extensions, Eugene had been signed through 2018 while Iowa, Tennessee, Myrtle Beach and South Bend had already been extended through 2020.
The affiliation between the Cubs and Iowa began in 1981, and this extension guarantees at least 42 years of partnership. Of the 160 teams in Minor League Baseball, this is the ninth-longest current affiliate relationship between a major league team and a minor league club.