Lance McCullers Jr. is a Brewer now. That sentence still feels weird to type, but the trade went through this week and the right-hander is heading to Milwaukee. And according to a conversation with Chandler Rome of The Athletic, McCullers himself had a lot to do with making it happen.
McCullers did not have a no-trade clause that would have blocked the deal. But he did have the kind of informal sway a longtime Astro earns after a decade in the organization. He could have said no. He chose not to.
Why he said yes to leaving Houston
“I’ve dedicated my life to this sport and this game and to this organization, and I’ve given it all I’ve had,” McCullers told Rome. “But the surgeries kind of piled up and these last few years have been tough on me. Not for a lack of effort or trying or dedication or any of that stuff; I just wasn’t really able to give the Astros the best version of myself that the team needs, honestly.”
That is a hard thing to admit out loud. Especially when you have a ring with the team and fans who still remember what he looked like in October. But McCullers has not looked like that guy in a while. This season he is 2-3 with a 6.86 ERA across 39 1/3 innings. The stuff is still there in flashes. The command and the durability have not been.
He thought about digging in. He thought about using his leverage to stay put. But in the end he decided that was not the right move for anybody.
“You either kind of dig in and I say, ‘I have this right, and I’m not leaving.’ Or, ultimately, you do what’s best for potentially your career and the organization that you’ve spent so many years at and have so much respect for and think fondly of,” McCullers said. “That’s kind of where that decision changed. It was a tough decision.”
It is rare to hear a player frame a trade that way. Most guys either want out or they fight to stay. McCullers landed somewhere in between, and he took the path that made the most sense for both sides.
What Milwaukee is getting
The Brewers are sitting in second place in the National League. They have a real shot at making noise this fall. Adding a guy like McCullers — even a version of him that has struggled — is a bet on upside. The Brewers bullpen and the Milwaukee pitching staff have a track record of helping guys find another gear. If McCullers can tap back into the form that made him a frontline starter a few years ago, this could look like a steal by August.
If he cannot, it is a low-risk flyer on a veteran who needed a change of scenery. Either way, McCullers sounds at peace with the move. That is not nothing.
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