{"id":802821,"date":"2026-07-15T23:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/802821\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T23:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:51:08","slug":"astros-trade-lance-mccullers-jr-to-brewers-for-jadyn-fielder-son-of-prince","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/802821\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros trade Lance McCullers Jr. to Brewers for Jadyn Fielder, son of Prince"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2014 In a move that trims payroll and offers roster flexibility, the Houston Astros have traded veteran starter Lance McCullers Jr. to the Milwaukee Brewers, the team announced <\/a>Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Triple-A left-hander Colton Gordon is also headed to Milwaukee as part of the Astros package. The Brewers are sending cash considerations and Jadyn Fielder \u2014 the son of six-time All-Star slugger Prince Fielder \u2014 back to Houston.<\/p>\n

Jadyn Fielder, 21, signed with Milwaukee as an undrafted free agent in 2024. He has an .813 OPS in 176 plate appearances at Class A this season. Gordon, who has minor league options remaining and five more years of team control, increases the value of a trade that can\u2019t be viewed as anything other than a salary dump.<\/p>\n

McCullers is in the final season of a five-year, $85 million contract signed prior to the 2021 season. The Brewers will pay at least $2 million of McCullers\u2019 remaining salary, according to a league source, freeing some money that will help Houston manage the Aug. 3 trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Before dealing McCullers, the Astros stood approximately $10 million under the first luxury tax threshold, according to Cot\u2019s Contracts. The team paid the tax each of the past two seasons.<\/p>\n

According to multiple league sources, Astros general manager Dana Brown had made available many of the pitchers on the back end of Houston\u2019s 40-man roster in recent weeks.\u00a0Rehabbing starters Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski, along with injured lefty reliever Bennett Sousa, are all scheduled to come off the 60-day injured list in the coming weeks. Removing McCullers and Gordon from Houston\u2019s 40-man roster makes it easier to find spots for the returning pitchers.<\/p>\n

The Astros have sought to move McCullers for most of the past year, according to multiple team sources. At one point, he was involved in a package that would have sent him to St. Louis before the 2025 season for third baseman Nolan Arenado. Arenado exercised his no-trade clause and vetoed the deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A fan favorite and figurehead of Houston\u2019s golden era, McCullers spun 24 of the most consequential, consecutive curveballs in franchise history during the 2017 ALCS, closing out the New York Yankees in Game 7 to hand Houston its first American League pennant.<\/p>\n

McCullers also started Game 7 of the Astros\u2019 World Series win against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but did not factor in the decision. McCullers\u2019 departure means Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa are the only remaining members of the 2017 Astros still with the team. Correa, who is one of McCullers\u2019 closest friends, is out for the season with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n

McCullers made the 2017 All-Star team and finished seventh in Cy Young voting in 2021, but his career has been riddled with injury after being taken with the 41st pick of the 2012 draft.\u00a0McCullers underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018 and flexor tendon repair in 2023. The latter operation caused him to miss all of the 2023 and 2024 seasons.<\/p>\n

Since undergoing Tommy John surgery, McCullers has thrown 359 2\/3 innings. More than half of them came in 2021, the only major-league season in which he\u2019s made more than 22 starts. He is 2-3 this season with a 6.86 ERA in just eight starts and\u00a0is currently on the injured list with a rotator cuff impingement. He made his third minor-league rehab start last week, during which he increased his pitch count to 77.<\/p>\n

In spring training, McCullers gave a candid interview that offered some perspective on his 11 seasons in the majors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not coming in the year, like, \u2018My gosh, if I don\u2019t pitch well or if I\u2019m not healthy, what am I going to do?\u2019\u201d McCullers said. \u201cI\u2019m going to be able to provide for my family, and we\u2019re going to be able to spend a lot of time together. But if I am healthy and that\u2019s in the plan for me, I would love to keep playing baseball. It\u2019s not like something for me where it has to swing one way or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 In a move that trims payroll and offers roster flexibility, the Houston Astros have traded veteran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5163,5159,591,85],"class_list":["post-802821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-houston-astros","tag-milwaukee-brewers","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}