No doubt he will regress some. But it will be a disappointment (and a surprise) if he regresses to the point that they won't exercise his option for next season. It seems clear to me that he needs the bright lights of meaningful competition to perform at his best.
You know there's absolutely no way Lester isn't starting in the postseason (probably game 1), no matter what he does the last six weeks.
I think Lester's problem is that he's just not that good anymore. As for Quintana, there's some talk that he's dramatically changed his pitch mix from his South Side days - dropping the cutter, for example.
According to this board no matter how good Lester does he still sucks and no matter how much Hendricks sucks he's still good.
If Hendricks finishes strong, the Cubs would be smart to explore trades in the offseason. His reputation probably exceeds his performance going forward, and there’s just not much margin for error there.
Quintana's heavy cutter usage was 2012 at 25.99%. In 2013 it dropped to 13.40%. 2014 2.71%, 2015 4.50%, 2016 0.49%.Except for the first 2 years it was his 5th pitch. Quintana's issue this year is command, not his pitch mix.