Imrem: Quintana to Cubs just makes too much sense
How absurd that rumor was last week.
The one where the Brewers are considering a deal for Jose Quintana as the trade deadline nears.
The absurdity is that the Cubs aren't bidding for the White Sox left-handed starting pitcher because of geography.
Shouldn't the Cubs pursue Quintana if only to keep him away from the first-place Brewers?
I know, I know … the Cubs and Sox are reluctant to be intracity trade partners … blah, blah, sis-boom-blah.
The policy is dumb considering that ex-wives share kids with ex-husbands, Republicans play baseball with Democrats, and the sun participates in sun showers with clouds.
If Quintana will help the Cubs make the playoffs, they should acquire him. If Cubs prospects will help the Sox rebuild, they should acquire him.
It's not clear where the Cubs are on this issue: Maybe their scouts don't like Quintana all that much, maybe they don't like the Sox's asking price for him, or maybe they prefer other pitchers on the market.
It's difficult to imagine that Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer wouldn't trade for Quintana's certainty simply because they don't want to do business with the Sox.
Public speculation, fair or not, is that Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf doesn't want anything to do with helping the Cubs even if it helps the Sox.
You mean not even if it accelerated the Sox's rebuild?
You mean not even if the Cubs thought Tyler Saladino would put them over the top and offered Kris Bryant for him?
You mean not even if the Sox could replace Ricky Renteria as manager with Joe Maddon like the Cubs did three years ago?
Hey, deal with the Cubs and try to beat their brains out in the transaction.
The dance between the Sox and Cubs is sensitive because some fans want it to be friendly, others want it to be nasty and still others want to kill the music.
Executives of the two teams long have tried to find a balance and make trades that wouldn't alienate anyone.
We were discussing this at the Cubs game Sunday and something made me think that Ferguson Jenkins was caught in a Cubs-Sox web.
Nobody remembered the details, so I looked it up.
In 1983, the White Sox had a player coming as compensation for losing Steve Kemp to free agency.
Jenkins was a Cubs great early in his career, in his second tour with them and unprotected from the compensation pool.
Losing Jenkins to the Sox would be uncomfortable for the Cubs and maybe even embarrassing.
The Sox didn't select Jenkins but soon completed a trade with the Cubs suspected of being a form of compensation for passing on Jenkins.
Cubs general manager Dallas Green reportedly expressed relief that he didn't lose Jenkins to the South Side. Sox GM Roland Hemond reportedly said he would have felt badly if he took Jenkins from the North Side.
All these years later the Sox and Cubs still are queasy about dealing with each other.
What the Sox should do is play hardball with the Cubs.
“No, no, we're not going to deal Quintana to the Cubs … OK, OK, we'll take Kyle Schwarber and Eloy Jimenez for him if you insist.”
The trade doesn't have to help both teams, just your team.
Maybe there's a Quintana fit, maybe there isn't, but it shouldn't depend on the Cubs and Sox residing in the same city.
mimrem@dailyherald.com