José Quintana Underwent Surgery to Repair Damaged Nerve in Left Thumb, Expected to Resume Throwing in 2 Weeks

Man, 2020 needs to stop already. The Cubs just announced that José Quintana suffered a laceration on his left thumb last Saturday while washing dishes. The injury required five stitches at the time, but the Cubs medical staff wanted to get a closer look to see if there was any more damage.

Per a team press release, Quintana underwent microscopic surgery on his left thumb Thursday morning to further determine the extent of his injury. The procedure identified a lacerated digital sensory nerve in his left thumb, which was surgically repaired.

Everything went smoothly and Quintana is expected to resume his throwing program in approximately two weeks, at which point they’ll know more about how long he’ll be out. Barring some sort of medical miracle, that only gives him one week to be ready by the start of the season, so we can probably go ahead and slot Alec Mills into the rotation.

Beyond just the short summer training camp MLB is using to prepare for the season, we’re talking about an injury to a nerve in the thumb on Quintana’s throwing hand. Even the slightest issue with his grip strength could significantly impact his ability to pitch, so it’s not a given that he’ll be back in short order even if everything is technically healed up.

This is just wonderful news on the eve of the team’s first formal workouts and I’ve got the feeling it’s not the last health issue we’re going to hear about. If there’s a silver lining to this, it’s that we don’t have to get upset about the Cubs choosing not to put Q on the IL.