The Milwaukee Brewers are the National League's version of the Tampa Bay Rays. They don't often shell out mega-contracts to Major League Baseball's biggest stars, even if they've developed them. Instead, they trade those assets — like Josh Hader and Devin Williams — and reload their pipeline.
When they do dive into free agency, they hunt bargains. And they believe they've found one in left-handed starter Jose Quintana, who they reportedly inked to a one-year, $4.25 million deal on March 3.
Beyond some rougher seasons throughout his Chicago Cubs tenure, Quintana has been a solid starting pitcher. When healthy, he's more of an innings-eater than dominant force. But he was undoubtedly the latter down the stretch in 2024, posting a 0.74 ERA across his final six starts (36.1 IP) with the New York Mets.
The Brewers were personally victimized by Quintana's strong stretch in the postseason, when he allowed just four hits across six innings in Game 3 of their Wild Card series against the Mets. This showing perhaps inspired them to pursue him during this late stage of the offseason.
What a job by Jose Quintana 👏 pic.twitter.com/M06WoAEKFa
— New York Mets (@Mets) October 4, 2024
Milwaukee has dominated the NL Central as of late, winning the division three of the past four years. This season, though, they're expected to finish in second place behind their big-spending, manager-poaching rivals in Chi-town.
Big things weren't anticipated from the Brewers in 2024, either, but they managed to win 93 games. Like the Rays, their shrewd maneuvering often leads to overperformance. But is Quintana's addition enough to push them above the Cubs in what will be a muddled NL Central race?
What will Jose Quintana provide the Milwaukee Brewers in 2025?
The Brewers are merely searching for availability in the back-end of their rotation. They're hopeful Brandon Woodruff can resume his role as a potential ace sooner than later. However, anterior capsular repairs are notoriously difficult to battle back from.
Beyond Woodruff — who's not expected to be ready for Opening Day — Milwaukee has solid, if mostly unspectacular arms in Freddy Peralta, Aaron Civale and Nestor Cortes. Second-year pro Tobias Myers performed well as a rookie in 2024, and offers some intriguing upside.
SP | Projected IP | Projected ERA | Projected FIP | Projected fWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Freddy Peralta | 171.0 | 3.76 | 3.86 | 2.8 |
Brandon Woodruff | 153.0 | 3.61 | 3.70 | 2.7 |
Nestor Cortes | 121.0 | 3.75 | 3.89 | 2.0 |
Aaron Civale | 131.0 | 4.31 | 4.41 | 1.3 |
Tobias Myers | 123.0 | 4.20 | 4.34 | 1.3 |
Jose Quintana | 131.0 | 4.31 | 4.43 | 1.2 |
Quintana has made at least 29 appearances in five of MLB's six full, 162-game campaigns since 2018. He recorded a 3.39 ERA across 76 starts (411.2 IP) from 2022-24. He is someone the Brewers can confidently trot to the bump every fifth day and get five-plus innings from. There's value in that for the Brewers, especially with Woodruff's currently shaky standing and Aaron Ashby's latest injury setback.
While Quintana offers consistent reliability in terms of just taking the ball, his skillset meshes well with Milwaukee's team structure. His 48.2% ground-ball rate in 2024 ranked in the 79th percentile of MLB pitchers, per Baseball Savant.
The Brewers won the SABR Defensive Index NL Team Gold Glove award in 2024. Two of their infielders — 2B Brice Turang and 3B Joey Ortiz — finished in the top-10 of individual NL fielders in SDI. As a team, Milwaukee (35.5) nearly tripled the SDI of the next closest NL team (Cubs: 12.0).
Brice Turang ranks 5th in MLB in Wins Above Replacement and defense is a big part of that.
— SIS_Baseball (@sis_baseball) June 28, 2024
9 Runs Saved ranks 3rd among 2nd basemen - and one of the best in MLB at going to his right pic.twitter.com/7dApwevBb2
Quintana played for a team that ranked 15th in defensive runs saved (18), runs allowed (697) and posted an SDI of 8.2 in 2024. Now, he's manning the bump for the fourth-best team in DRS (64) that yielded the fourth-fewest runs (621). This shift can help him repeat the career-low .266 BABIP (batting average on balls in play) he tallied last year and, in turn, replicate his end-of-season success.
FanGraphs' Projected NL Central | W-L Record |
|---|---|
Chicago Cubs | 84-78 |
Milwaukee Brewers | 81-81 |
St. Louis Cardinals | 79-83 |
Cincinnati Reds | 78-84 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 78-84 |
In a division as tight as the NL Central, improving on the margins could be all the difference between fourth place and a championship. Quintana isn't a sexy name, but he's an effective addition that embodies the Brewers' approach. And come the end of September, he could definitely have a part in Milwaukee sitting atop the NL Central once again.