Brewers: Fantasy impact of acquiring Sonny Gray or Jose Quintana

The Brewers could make a playoff run this season. The team may trade for either Sonny Gray or Jose Quintana. What would the fantasy impact be if they do?

The Milwaukee Brewers are one of the surprise teams this season. The team sits at 48-40 with a 4.5 game lead in the National League Central. However, no lead is safe and the team is looking to hold onto that lead and compete this season and possibly beyond.

If they plan on doing so, the Brewers will need another starting pitcher. The team has recently been linked to both Sonny Gray and Jose Quintana. What would the fantasy impact be if the Brewers acquire either pitcher?

The Brewers rotation is Jimmy Nelson, Chase Anderson, Matt Garza, Zach Davies, and Junior Guerra. Nelson is the best pitcher in the rotation, 3.20 ERA and 1.221 WHIP in 104 innings. Anderson was just placed on the 10-day DL with an oblique strain and could miss up to six weeks.

Garza is pitching alright but isn’t striking out a lot of batters. Davies and Guerra have ERAs 4.90 or higher. So, adding another pitcher isn’t crazy for Milwaukee.

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Sonny Gray

Gray’s ratio stats may look unfavorable but the peripherals look good, so there could be some improvement in the second half. He has a 4.00 ERA, 1.208 WHIP and 3.59 FIP in 13 starts. I don’t look at wins as they are near impossible to predict. The Oakland offense isn’t as consistent as the Brewers’.

He also has an 8.5 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and 0.9 HR/9 in 78.2 innings. If he maintains the strikeout rate, that would be his highest for a full season. The decreased walk rate is good to see considering he had a 3.2 rate last year.

Gray is forcing hitters to put the ball on the ground more. He has a 51.3 ground ball rate in his last seven starts.

Miller Park rates highly as a hitter’s park. The ballpark ranks fourth in runs, 11th in home runs and ninth in hits. If Gray can continue to keep the ball on the ground, he will fair well if he is traded. It does help that he’ll face a pitcher twice a game, too.

Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors wrote a list of teams that could be a good fit for Gray. Milwaukee is on the list, but so are about eight other teams. Regardless, I think he will be traded by the end of the month.

Jose Quintana

Quintana’s numbers are very similar to Gray’s. He has a 4.45 ERA, 1.323 WHIP and 4.08 FIP in 17 starts. Quintana owns a 4-8 win-loss record, which could be a result of his 49 runs and 13 home runs allowed so far.

He is striking out batters at a career-high rate. Quintana has a 9.0 K/9, but also has a 3.5 BB/9 so there are some control issues this season. He had just a 2.2 BB/9 last season.

Quintana is seeing an increase in his groundball rate, 43.5 percent, while is line drive and home run rates drop compared to last season. His 54.8 ground ball rate over his last is a good sign.

He will also benefit greatly by leaving his current team. The White Sox score 4.62 runs per game, 17th in the league. Milwaukee ranks eighth at 4.93. For what it’s worth, Oakland scores 4.37 runs per game, 22nd overall, according to Teamrankings.com.

The success of Nelson in the rotation, Corey Knebel as the closer and slugger Eric Thames among others have kept the Brewers playoff hopes alive. Both of these pitchers will find great success if they are traded to Milwaukee.

Each pitcher possesses desirable and unwelcoming stats. Quintana has a higher strikeout and ground ball rate and ERA in his recent games while Gray has a lower walk rate, but his other stats aren’t that bad either.

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Either trade could have a big impact on the future, too. While nothing is tabled, prospect Lewis Brinson would likely be shipped out of Milwaukee.

If I were in the Brewers front office, I would want Gray. If I owned either pitcher (and I do, Quintana), I would be okay with either one moving to Milwaukee. It’s a better offense and facing the National League will help overall.