The Milwaukee Brewers are closing in on a deal with the Houston Astros for right-handed pitcher Lance McCullers Jr., according to multiple reports. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com was the first to report the talks were heating up, and Jon Heyman of the New York Post later confirmed the two sides are nearing an agreement.
Chandler Rome of The Athletic added that Houston has been floating
McCullers in trade conversations for most of the last year.
That timeline suggests this isn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. The Astros have been quietly shopping him for months.
McCullers has had an up-and-down career in Houston. When healthy, he’s been a frontline starter. He posted a 3.16 ERA in 2021 and earned an All-Star nod. But staying on the mound has been the problem. He missed all of 2019 after Tommy John surgery and has dealt with forearm strains, elbow soreness, and a lat strain that cost him most of the 2023 season. He pitched just three innings in 2024 before hitting the injured list again with shoulder tightness.
The Brewers are betting on the version of McCullers that dominated in the 2021 postseason. They need starting pitching. The rotation has been held together by duct tape and Corbin Burnes, who is having another Cy Young-caliber year. But depth is thin after that. Adding McCullers gives them a high-ceiling arm who could be dominant in October if his body holds up.
Houston is looking to clear payroll and make room for younger arms. The Astros have Hunter Brown, Framber Valdez, and Cristian Javier locked into the rotation, and they like what they’ve seen from Spencer Arrighetti and Jake Bloss in the minors. Moving McCullers and his remaining salary — he’s owed around $17 million through 2026 — frees up flexibility to address other needs, like the bullpen or maybe a bat.
Neither team has confirmed the trade is done. But the reporting is consistent, and the timing makes sense. The All-Star break is the perfect window for a deal like this. No games for a few days. Time to get physicals done. Time to sort out the details.
The Brewers are in first place in the NL Central and playing with house money in a lot of ways. If McCullers comes back from the break and gives them five or six solid innings every fifth day, this could be one of those trades that tilts a division race. If he gets hurt again, they gave up something for a guy who watches from the dugout. But that’s the gamble.
More details should come out in the next 24 hours as the deal gets finalized.
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