Brewers trade for RHP Quinn Priester

[patrickgpe]

8 hours ago, Frisbee Slider said:

Priester has been above replacement level and has not had a bad start since May 2 against the Cubs.

For what they gave up, that’s not good enough. I grant you I have seen improvement and brewers have tons of control so I’m optimistic on the trade still.

[sveumrules]

On 4/7/2025 at 3:14 PM, sveumrules said:

If Priester can throw around 100 some innings of league average-ish work this year I'd say we're off to a decent start anyways.

Hey look at that, Quinn has 50.2 IP with a right on the nose average 100 ERA- to this point. Half way there?

Speaking of half, its been a tale of two halves for Priester...

First Five Games (23.1 IP)
72 K+ | 170 BB+ | 111 HR9+
142 ERA- | 133 FIP-

Last Five Games (27.1 IP)
64 K+ | 75 BB+ | 95 HR9+
64 ERA- | 104 FIP-

Still not striking anybody out, but reigned in the control big time and his 58.0% ground ball rate is 5th in MLB among 133 pitchers with at least 40 IP so far.

I don't think many guys have a true talent 64 ERA-, but don't have to squint too hard to see Priester settling into the Brewers FIP Beater archetype of guys like say Wade Miley (71 ERA- | 101 FIP-), Bryse Wilson (81 ERA- | 111 FIP-), Chase Anderson (90 ERA- | 111 FIP-), Zach Davies (91 ERA- | 98 FIP-), Civale (94 ERA- | 125 FIP-), et al.

Yophery update...173 PA of 183/329/303 (86 wRC+). Nice walk (17.3 BB%) and strikeout numbers (20.2 K%), but a dreadful .229 BABIP is short circuiting the operation. His .120 ISO is also a bit below the .132 league average in the Sally League.

Holobetz update...20.1 IP with a decent looking 3.98 ERA but less inspiring 5.57 FIP and 4.78 xFIP under the hood. 31 K | 5 BB | 1 HR in 24 IP with the Brewers in A ball, but 16 K | 6 BB | 4 HR in those 20.1 IP at Boston's A+ affiliate. 

[shanedog19]

It's still early, but this sure feels like a really good trade from our end.

[MilwaukeeBeers]

Don't forget the (basically) first round pick and bonus slot money too. Him not striking anyone out lately is red flag. At least he isn't walking near as many batters.

[Roderick]

His whip is a little high, but with his ground ball rate, it would seem the double plays would cover that up.  

If he just throws 5+ innings of 4.0 ERA ball for the 3 minimum wage years and 3 arby years - that is a ton of value.  And hopefully with maturity and a tweak or two he will improve on that.  Sure seems like a good, to great trade as of today.  

[Frisbee Slider]

2 hours ago, MilwaukeeBeers said:

Don't forget the (basically) first round pick and bonus slot money too. Him not striking anyone out lately is red flag. At least he isn't walking near as many batters.

The odds the comp pick, slot money and Y. Rodriguez produce any wins above replacement level is not 100%.

[duewizard]

I think at this point, past the initial reactions, it is too early to call this trade a win or a loss. Priester has been great for 25 innings and bad for another 25. I think we need to evaluate when he's thrown 200+ and we have a better understanding of who he is. Furthermore, Y-Rod, Holobetz and the draft pick are 2+ years away from the majors, if they ever get there.

Lets revisit this in 2027

[True Blue Brew Crew]

I know nobody is ready to cement this one in the win category but the conversation sure has changed in a good way

[Brewer77]

1 hour ago, duewizard said:

I think at this point, past the initial reactions, it is too early to call this trade a win or a loss. Priester has been great for 25 innings and bad for another 25. I think we need to evaluate when he's thrown 200+ and we have a better understanding of who he is. Furthermore, Y-Rod, Holobetz and the draft pick are 2+ years away from the majors, if they ever get there.

Lets revisit this in 2027

Really he has only been bad for the two outings around the start of May. 2.33 ERA across the other 46.1 IP

But I agree with the overall point. There’s a lot of time for this trade to go north or south

 

[TURBO]

Has anyone heard if this piggyback situation with Hall is going to stick around for a while?

So far so good, I like it!

[markedman5]

17 minutes ago, TURBO said:

Has anyone heard if this piggyback situation with Hall is going to stick around for a while?

So far so good, I like it!

I think it probably depends on the opponent…….if they have 2 or 3 left handed hitters at the top of their lineup it probably will…….

Some of it will also depend on if they need Hall between starts…….

[Frisbee Slider]

27 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

Some of it will also depend on if they need Hall between starts…….

Seems like they should keep it going 

[jay87shot]

Yophery is hitting g .173/.314/.282 and Holobetz 3.98 era in 20.1 innings 6 bb 16 k's. With Priester coming around this is looking better than early in the year. If he can develop a strike-out pitch he could have some upside to be a higher end starter sinker baller like Logan Webb.

[SF70]

5 hours ago, jay87shot said:

Yophery is hitting g .173/.314/.282 and Holobetz 3.98 era in 20.1 innings 6 bb 16 k's. With Priester coming around this is looking better than early in the year. If he can develop a strike-out pitch he could have some upside to be a higher end starter sinker baller like Logan Webb.

Looking forward to seeing what our PDS can continue to do to improve Priester. He’s already made gains since he was acquired.

Yophery and the pick are 3-4 years from potentially impacting the big-club. Priester has a good chance to do so next year, so we get the impact moved up when we need it more, ‘26 & ‘27.

 

[rickh150]

Glad we are doing this type of trade to address rotation.  We cannot keep top veteran starters after 6-7years, cannot bid on top FA pitchers, and should not give long contracts early to good but injury prone starters unless getting a Peralta like special. Well worth the risk. Needed.

[Turning2]

On 6/6/2025 at 5:41 PM, TURBO said:

Has anyone heard if this piggyback situation with Hall is going to stick around for a while?

So far so good, I like it!

 Beyond it being a successful formula at present, I like that it gets Hall some innings in a starter’s role. Really hoping that piece of the Burnes trade bears fruit for the rotation. 

[umphrey]

My gripe with Priester is just that he's a back end no strike out pitcher and those have been a dime a dozen for us. Is he really that much better than Tobias Myers or Quintana for example?

[sveumrules]

43 minutes ago, umphrey said:

My gripe with Priester is just that he's a back end no strike out pitcher and those have been a dime a dozen for us. Is he really that much better than Tobias Myers or Quintana for example?

He hasn’t been as good as Myers was last year, but he’s been better than an injured Myers this year. If Tobias didn’t tweak his oblique we might not have acquired Priester to begin with.

He hasn’t been as good as Quintana either, but with all the SP injuries (including Quintana himself) they’ve needed both of them just to get to this point.

[homer]

48 minutes ago, umphrey said:

My gripe with Priester is just that he's a back end no strike out pitcher and those have been a dime a dozen for us. Is he really that much better than Tobias Myers or Quintana for example?

With an elite infield behind him, that is plenty good as long as he's getting ground balls.

[sveumrules]

I’d argue “back end” is selling Priester’s performance short to this point too.

There are 145 pitchers with at least 40 IP so far this year, almost five per team.

Prieseter’s 0.6 rWAR puts him in a tie occupying spots #85 to #93 on that leaderboard so that is essentially a #3 or mid-rotation kind of guy.

[liveforoctober]

1 hour ago, umphrey said:

My gripe with Priester is just that he's a back end no strike out pitcher and those have been a dime a dozen for us. Is he really that much better than Tobias Myers or Quintana for example?

Holy tunnel vision.

[mudbutt]

Priester being a viable back end pitcher makes it a good trade!  People are vastly overrating what the Brewers gave up. 

[torts]

I don't care about losing prospects, I'm not a fan of A/AA/AAA teams, I'm a fan of the MLB team, and I care about the here and now, not the what could be future team.  Get the team a reliable arm for some guys I already forgot about?  Awesome!  Add to the options for murph!  Whatever gets us to 82+ wins, I watch for entertainment, with the outside hopes of winning it all (This is our year, idgaf)

 

Preister, thank you for your groundballing!  Keep it up!  

[markedman5]

Another quality start with no walks and 7 ks

[MVP2110]

Priester's last 7 starts, he is THRIVING right now

 

6 IP, 1 ER

5 IP, 1 ER

6 IP, 2 ER

6 IP, 1 ER

5.1 IP, 3 ER

5 IP, 1 ER

5 IP, 1 ER