For the seventh time since he left the Chicago Cubs following the 2020 season, Jose Quintana is joining a new team. The 37-year-old southpaw is signing a one-year deal with the Colorado Rockies for the 2026 campaign.

News: Veteran Jose Quintana is in agreement with the Colorado Rockies, sources tell ESPN. The 37 year old is back for his 15th big league season. The deal is pending a physical.

— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) February 11, 2026

If you’re concerned for Quintana’s stat line now that he’s a late-30s southpaw with a fastball that barely tops 90 MPH on average who will be pitching half his games in Coors Field, well, you have a right to be. He’s still reliable at generating ground balls, but home runs could become a massive issue if he’s asked to eat a lot of innings for a helpess Rockies staff.

And yet, if you’ve followed Q’s career since he left Chicago, you’d know that he’s actually mostly gotten better with age.

Jose Quintana has turned in a strong effort since flaming out with Cubs

Back in 2017, the Cubs were trying to mount a respectable title defense. By the trade deadline, it was clear that the rotation required more reinformements, and they made a crosstown trade with the White Sox for Quintana. In exchange they surrendered prospects Dylan Cease, Eloy Jimenez, Matt Rose, and Bryant Flete.

At the time, he was one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball, having completed 200 or more innings in every season from 2013-16. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to replicate his success on the North Side, pitching to a 4.24 ERA with the Cubs after logging a 3.51 mark with the White Sox.

By 2020, Quintana was a shell of his former self and already beyond 30 years old. He left in free agency for the Angels, though it wasn’t until he signed in Pittsburgh in 2022 that he began to rediscover his old form. Over the past four seasons (split between the Pirates, Cardinals, Mets, and Brewers), Quintana has recorded a 3.53 ERA and 421 strikeouts over nearly 550 innings. Statistically, the Cubs were his worst NL Central stop, though he’s yet to pitch for the Reds in his 15-year career.

It remains to be seen if he can replicate that recent success with the Rockies, but it won’t change that the trade was ultimately a failure for the Cubs. Quintana regressed, and the team never advanced beyond the NLCS during his tenure.

That doesn’t take away from what’s been an otherwise sterling career, but it’s certainly a harsh reminder that Q is still plugging away all these years later.