The starting pitcher that the Brewers should trade at the deadline

At 63-43 and currently with the best record in all of baseball, the 2025 Milwaukee Brewers are far from being sellers at the upcoming MLB Trade Deadline. But just because the Brewers are contenders doesn't mean they won't move on from MLB talent before Thursday's deadline. There could be some opportunities for Matt Arnold and the front office to get creative and use an area to improve elsewhere.

Milwaukee currently has a surplus of starting pitchers. Freddy Peralta is having another strong season. Jacob Misiorowski has been as advertised since being called up. Brandon Woodruff has a 2.01 ERA in four starts since coming back from the Injured List.

The Brewers have also gotten quality pitching from Quinn Priester, who has found his stride and posted a 2.53 ERA over his last 14 outings. Meanwhile, José Quintana has been solid as well this season, with a 3.50 ERA in 15 starts.

That's five quality starting pitchers right there with Nestor Cortes ready to re-join the team from his rehab assignment. Tobias Myers, Logan Henderson, and Chad Patrick have all had MLB success as well, and currently wait for their next big league opportunity while pitching down in Triple-A Nashville.

As crazy as it sounds, the first-place Brewers may actually need to trade a starting pitcher from the MLB roster to acquire a bat or two. Moving on from Quintana could be the perfect move for Milwaukee at the deadline.

The Brewers should trade José Quintana at the deadline

Quintana has been really steady for the Brewers in 2025. He has helped stabilize their rotation through a handful of injuries and a rocky 24-26 start to the season.

There's no denying the fact that Quintana has been a solid middle rotation arm for the Brewers. That's what he's been for his entire career, and even at 36 years old, he gets the job done every fifth day. That being said, he's also the worst starting pitcher in the rotation right now. Quintana's 3.50 ERA is worse than Peralta, Misiorowski, Woodruff, and Priester. His 4.98 SIERA points to some regression coming later in the season.

SIERA is an advanced analytic that estimates a pitcher's ERA by focusing on factors they can control, such as strikeouts, walks, and ground ball rate. Unlike traditional ERA, SIERA accounts for the quality of contact and aims to predict future ERA. Brewer Fanatic's Brewers beat reporter Jack Stern pointed out how the Brewers' starters SIERA compares to one another, and further broke down the team's deadline dilemma in an article on brewerfanatic.com.

If we are to believe the underlying metrics, the Brewers would be wise to cash in on Quintana's hot start and move him at the deadline, as he may not be as solid in August and September.

Quintana is worth more than Cortes

While the Brewers are reportedly listening to offers on Nestor Cortes, Quintana is a more proven entity that I think would get a bigger return in a trade.

Teams pay for starting pitching, especially reliable pitching that eats innings with few injury concerns. Nestor Cortes has not been available this season, and in one of the two games he has pitched, he's was hit very hard. Trading for Cortes is a bigger gamble for a contending team than trading for Quintana would be, and moving him with his value at an all-time low makes little sense.

The Brewers don't need the innings. If you remove both Cortes and Quintana from the equation, Milwaukee still has four quality starters. They also have depth in Myers, Henderson, and Patrick sitting in Triple-A. Come playoff time, the Brewers won't need more than four starting pitchers. But they will need some bats that can generate quick offense.

Joey Ortiz isn't getting it done offensively. I'd like to see the Brewers make a deal for Xavier Edwards of the Miami Marlins or Willi Castro of the Minnesota Twins. Any prospects the Brewers have to give up can be recouped by trading away Quintana to a team that's willing to overpay for experienced pitching. It makes too much sense.