Brewers trade for RHP Quinn Priester

[wallus]

Pretty good for an at best back of the rotation starter ;)

[MVP2110]

 

[Playing Catch]

8 minutes ago, MVP2110 said:

 

I appreciate Hogg's contributions. But I quibble with the last line about the Brewers "turning lemons into lemonade". I think if Priester were to continue to perform really well over the next couple of seasons, it would demonstrate that the Brewers don't acquire lemons in the first place, but rather trade in uncut gems.

[PlayerHader]

Priester comp with Tobias is fun. How do you guys think their stuff compared to one another? Tobias when healthy, obviously.

[sveumrules]

19 minutes ago, PlayerHader said:

Priester comp with Tobias is fun. How do you guys think their stuff compared to one another? Tobias when healthy, obviously.

Here's a breakdown of their respective "peak" profiles. Priester ranks are among 80 pitchers min. 40 IP since May 3rd, Tobias ranks are among 75 pitchers min. 100 IP from June onward last year...

Priester (44.1 IP | 41st)
55 ERA- (14th) | 85 FIP- (28th)
78 K+ (63rd) | 67 BB+ (26th) | 58 HR+ (16th)
137 GB+ (4th) | 68 FB+ (74th) | 81 LD+ (`14th)

Myers (111.1 IP | 39th)
59 ERA- (4th) | 85 FIP- (20th) 
99 K+ (38th) | 70 BB+ (18th) | 79 HR+ (19th)
90 GB+ (58th) | 106 FB+ (25th) | 109 LD+ (54th)

Pretty crazy how close the ERA-/FIP- are even though they go about it in different ways. Priester with the ground ball heavy / no K profile, and Myers with the more fly ball oriented / average K profile.

[PlayerHader]

11 hours ago, sveumrules said:

Here's a breakdown of their respective "peak" profiles. Priester ranks are among 80 pitchers min. 40 IP since May 3rd, Tobias ranks are among 75 pitchers min. 100 IP from June onward last year...

Priester (44.1 IP | 41st)
55 ERA- (14th) | 85 FIP- (28th)
78 K+ (63rd) | 67 BB+ (26th) | 58 HR+ (16th)
137 GB+ (4th) | 68 FB+ (74th) | 81 LD+ (`14th)

Myers (111.1 IP | 39th)
59 ERA- (4th) | 85 FIP- (20th) 
99 K+ (38th) | 70 BB+ (18th) | 79 HR+ (19th)
90 GB+ (58th) | 106 FB+ (25th) | 109 LD+ (54th)

Pretty crazy how close the ERA-/FIP- are even though they go about it in different ways. Priester with the ground ball heavy / no K profile, and Myers with the more fly ball oriented / average K profile.

How would you compare them purely in “stuff”? I had a buddy comment that one has clearly better “stuff” than the other and I just couldn’t agree.

[bm1090]

4 hours ago, PlayerHader said:

How would you compare them purely in “stuff”? I had a buddy comment that one has clearly better “stuff” than the other and I just couldn’t agree.

I think Priester has better stuff but could see it either way.

 

[sveumrules]

11 hours ago, PlayerHader said:

How would you compare them purely in “stuff”? I had a buddy comment that one has clearly better “stuff” than the other and I just couldn’t agree.

On the one hand, Priester was the higher draft pick and generally more well regarded as a prospect, so his stuff was more obviously apparent.

On the other hand, “stuff” is generally correlated with getting strikeouts, and Myers has a clear advantage over Priester there.

Its really just two different kinds of stuff. Priester is a little more old school working everything off the sinker down and Myers a little more from the new school of mostly working off the four seamer up.

[Brewer77]

Last year Myers had a 91 Stuff+, 102 Location+, and 94 Pitching+. He doesn’t grade out well by stuff, but he located well enough and was able to effectively play his wide arsenal off each other (as alluded to in the Baseball America piece before the season)

This year Priester has a 98 Stuff+, 98+ Location+, and 95 Pitching+. He’s mostly a 3 pitch pitcher right now between the sinker, slider, and cutter. The sinker and slider are solid offerings by Stuff+, while the cutter is lagging behind

TLDR, Priester’s pitches grade out a bit better, but I wouldn’t say there’s a significant difference in stuff. Neither induce a lot of swing and miss and both are effective in different ways

[sveumrules]

Red Sox prospect list dropped at FanGraphs today and thought it was interesting that Eric had Holobetz (#26) higher in the ordinal rankings than Yophery (#31), though both ultimately have the same 40 FV grade.

Holobetz...

He’s built like a starter, moves like a starter, and commands the baseball, giving Holobetz a very high floor as a lock depth starter. Whether he roots himself in a big league rotation is going to depend on the growth of his secondary pitches. His low-80s slider lacks the raw power of a good modern slider, but Holobetz dots it. His changeup has long-term projection because of his fluidity and lovely arm stroke, but it isn’t a nasty pitch yet. His cutter probably needs more velo (it’s averaging about 85 mph right now) to be a real weapon. Holobetz is athletic and young, and was only recently drafted, so he has a ton of time to develop. He has a great pitchability foundation and looks like a low-variance backend starter.

Yophery...

He’s a tightly wound athlete with some effort to his swing, and it’s likely he’ll whiff underneath high fastballs as he faces better velocity. Against Low-A pitching he’s been able to cover most of the plate and spray low-lying contact from foul pole to foul pole. He can turn on pitches on the inner third but tends to be oppo-oriented throughout most of the zone...He isn’t overtly projectable and is definitely a “skills over tools” type whose offense is seasoned by his advanced feel for the strike zone. His feel does not extend to defense, where Rodriguez is fast, but also frustrating and unpolished. He may need to play a corner eventually, and the power to profile there likely won’t materialize. Improved defense is the biggest developmental key for Rodriguez and would allow him to play a sizable big league role as an oft-used fourth outfielder.

[Playing Catch]

1 hour ago, sveumrules said:

Red Sox prospect list dropped at FanGraphs today and thought it was interesting that Eric had Holobetz (#26) higher in the ordinal rankings than Yophery (#31), though both ultimately have the same 40 FV grade.

Holobetz...

He’s built like a starter, moves like a starter, and commands the baseball, giving Holobetz a very high floor as a lock depth starter. Whether he roots himself in a big league rotation is going to depend on the growth of his secondary pitches. His low-80s slider lacks the raw power of a good modern slider, but Holobetz dots it. His changeup has long-term projection because of his fluidity and lovely arm stroke, but it isn’t a nasty pitch yet. His cutter probably needs more velo (it’s averaging about 85 mph right now) to be a real weapon. Holobetz is athletic and young, and was only recently drafted, so he has a ton of time to develop. He has a great pitchability foundation and looks like a low-variance backend starter.

Yophery...

He’s a tightly wound athlete with some effort to his swing, and it’s likely he’ll whiff underneath high fastballs as he faces better velocity. Against Low-A pitching he’s been able to cover most of the plate and spray low-lying contact from foul pole to foul pole. He can turn on pitches on the inner third but tends to be oppo-oriented throughout most of the zone...He isn’t overtly projectable and is definitely a “skills over tools” type whose offense is seasoned by his advanced feel for the strike zone. His feel does not extend to defense, where Rodriguez is fast, but also frustrating and unpolished. He may need to play a corner eventually, and the power to profile there likely won’t materialize. Improved defense is the biggest developmental key for Rodriguez and would allow him to play a sizable big league role as an oft-used fourth outfielder.

Why do I feel like if they were still Brewers prospects, the write-ups would be more pessimistic in tone?

Holobetz is 22, drafted out of college, but the write up uses words like, "growth," "young," "recently drafted," "...ton of time to develop." and Rodriguez is in line for a "sizable" big league role? "Oft-used" fourth outfielder?

I mean, he's the strong-side of a platoon, but still.

I love Fangraphs, but I do think that their individual blind spots show from time-to-time. Either that, or Red Sox nation is intolerable on the socials and Fangraphs just likes to throw them a bone.

[liveforoctober]

Mlb pipeline had Rodriguez as the Brewers' #7 prospect and 10 weeks later fangraphs has him as the 31st prospect for the Red Sox? 

 

[mudbutt]

1 hour ago, liveforoctober said:

Mlb pipeline had Rodriguez as the Brewers' #7 prospect and 10 weeks later fangraphs has him as the 31st prospect for the Red Sox? 

 

MLB Pipeline is bad.  
 

Anyway Eric had him as the Brewers 11 last year but dropped him from a 40+ to a 40 prospect, mainly due to his power and defense not looking as favorable.  His review of him is harsher than the Milwaukee review last year so I don’t understand the Red Sox bias comment.  Projecting a guy as a most likely a reserve outfielder isn’t optimistic.

[JCREW]

On 6/25/2025 at 12:43 PM, liveforoctober said:

Mlb pipeline had Rodriguez as the Brewers' #7 prospect and 10 weeks later fangraphs has him as the 31st prospect for the Red Sox? 

 

Yoph also has a 75 wRC+ at Boston's high A team after being at 124 in the DSL in 2023 and 112 in Carolina in 2024. 

Edited June 26, 2025 by JCREW
clarifying his level at Boston

[shanedog19]

Wow what a trade! These are types of moves that have been keeping the crew competitive for several years now. He’s clearly found another gear with the help of our highly competent pitching staff.

[biedergb]

While I am still high on Yophery, indeed his lack of power may hold him back as a prospect, and he may not be as good as a guy like Lara in terms of contact or defensive skills,  time may tell.

But Holobetz could be the key player lost in this deal. Way too early to tell but he is pitching well in high A, and he looked great in the few outings I saw him pitch for Carolina.

The big piece will be felt this upcoming week without the 33rd selection, but a 33rd pick for a solid mid-rotation arm is a steal. If one of the prospects develop it may be a wash, still depends on Priester.

Obviously if Priester holds his form I will eat my crow on how I graded this trade, but it’s still hard to read him as I keep having Eric Lauer like vibes whenever we get a great half-to-full season out of a pitcher. Last year this time we thought we had a lights out reliever who could be a starter in Bryan Hudson.  I mean the Brewers excel at getting about a year of excellent pitching out of guys who were cast offs or deemed marginal prospects (ie, Lauer, Houser, Hudson, Meyers), which is a good thing as many teams would love to get great a season out of “unknown” player or two every season,

[adambr2]

On 6/28/2025 at 8:27 PM, shanedog19 said:

Wow what a trade! These are types of moves that have been keeping the crew competitive for several years now. He’s clearly found another gear with the help of our highly competent pitching staff.

He’s been solid, but he’s still a bit inconsistent. He’ll pitch an absolute gem, but then follow it up with a dud in his next start.

Hopefully, that’s something that will improve. You can definitely at least see what they saw in him. 

He may the victim of a numbers game when Cortes returns, as Priester or Miz is likely going to have to go down.

[Frisbee Slider]

9 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

He may the victim of a numbers game when Cortes returns, as Priester or Miz is likely going to have to go down.

I think Milwaukee will be cautious to use Priester’s final option this year. If they send him down this year and he struggles next year, he will have to be put on waivers. I don’t think we would want that.

[liveforoctober]

Yes amongst all of the other reasons why Quintana and/or Cortes need to be traded ... Priester might be the biggest one. Other than Peralta he is the guy in the rotation the Brewers least want to move (at least up and down from Nashville).

[Roderick]

3 hours ago, adambr2 said:

He may the victim of a numbers game when Cortes returns, as Priester or Miz is likely going to have to go down.

I would think that Priester is more in line to take on the full season of innings vs Miz.  

[Brian]

Miz is fine unless he gets blown up again or has an arm issue after the last game.

One bad outing doesn't mean diddly, but 2 in a row will. 

[Brian]

24 minutes ago, Roderick said:

I would think that Priester is more in line to take on the full season of innings vs Miz.  

Koenig has been ass lately.  Worse than anyone else mentioned unless there is an arm issue with someone else. 

[CheezWizHed]

38 minutes ago, Brian said:

Koenig has been ass lately.  Worse than anyone else mentioned unless there is an arm issue with someone else. 

I wouldn't mind putting Miz in the BP in order to manage his innings this year.  Piggyback him with Woody or Priester (120 innings last year)?

[Frisbee Slider]

Could we use one of our starters in relief? 

Murphy doesn’t seem to rest Contreras enough for backup catcher to matter. Plus, Haase has .736 OPS in Milwaukee over 133 PA.

I think we need good hitters in general. All our hitters, except Ortiz until recent, have all been pleasantly above average. Hard to be mad at above average but hard to win playoff games if all we are is above average.

[BrewerFan]

2 hours ago, Brian said:

Top 3 needs by me: 

#1) We need a good middle reliever.

#2) We need a better backup catcher.

#3) A good pinch hitter, if there is such a thing. 

1-I think someone who slights in ahead of Mears would be a big upgrade. Chapman would fit a couple of needs. 

2-Catcher? Contreras, Haase, Siegler, and then Quero in AAA? Seems like we'd have to give up a lot for...what probably wouldn't be an upgrade. 

3-A big bat is always nice. Suarez fits the lineup, Durbin becomes more of a PHer. Especially with Hoskins out.