{"id":764894,"date":"2026-07-15T19:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T19:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/764894\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T19:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T19:21:11","slug":"astros-to-trade-lance-mccullers-jr-colton-gordon-to-brewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/764894\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros To Trade Lance McCullers Jr., Colton Gordon To Brewers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brewers are adding some depth to a pitching staff that has taken some notable hits in recent weeks. Milwaukee is reportedly finalizing a trade to acquire right-hander Lance McCullers Jr.<\/a> and left-hander Colton Gordon<\/a> from the Astros. The Brewers will take on a yet-unknown portion of the salary remaining on McCullers\u2019 underwater contract and add an optionable and controllable 27-year-old lefty (Gordon) in the process. Houston\u2019s return is not yet known, though it surely does not include any of the more prominent prospects from their system. The teams have yet to formally announce the trade.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a surprising and out-of-the-blue deal. McCullers hasn\u2019t pitched since May 13 due to a shoulder injury and hasn\u2019t been effective when healthy. He went on a minor league rehab stint on June 25 and has made three solid appearances thus far.<\/p>\n

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This is surely a salary-motivated move for Houston. McCullers is being paid $17MM in the final season of a five-year, $85MM contract extension, but he hasn\u2019t pitched well since the 2022 season. That contract included a full no-trade clause, but McCullers has already agreed to waive that protection.<\/p>\n

McCullers, 32, missed all of 2023-24 due to a flexor tear that required surgery, and he\u2019s posted a 6.65 ERA in 94 2\/3 innings dating back to last season. He\u2019s still owed approximately $6.672MM of this year\u2019s $17MM salary. If Milwaukee takes on even a small portion of that amount, it\u2019d free up some more resources for the \u2018Stros as they gear up to make some additions ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Prior to a brutal run of injuries that has limited him to 142 1\/3 big league innings from 2022-26, McCullers was a vital member of Houston\u2019s pitching staff. From 2015-21, the 2012 No. 41 overall draft pick gave the Astros 671 innings with a 3.57 ERA, a 26.6% strikeout rate, a 9.7% walk rate and a huge 55.5% ground-ball rate. Even in that injury-shortened 2022 season, McCullers posted a 2.27 ERA in 47 2\/3 frames (eight starts). He\u2019s been an important postseason contributor, too, as evidenced by the 3.47 ERA he\u2019s compiled in 72 2\/3 career playoff innings.<\/p>\n

Injuries have been a recurring theme throughout McCullers\u2019 career. He missed the 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery. He didn\u2019t make his 2022 debut until Aug. 13 due to flexor troubles. Renewed flexor issues in 2023 resulted in him opening the season on the injured list end eventually undergoing surgery to repair his right flexor tendon and remove bone spurs from his elbow. Since returning in 2025, he\u2019s sat just 91.4 mph on his sinker \u2014 way south of the 94 mph he averaged prior to the onset of his flexor and shoulder woes.<\/p>\n

As one would expect, McCullers\u2019 swinging-strike rate and strikeout rate have plummeted. His opponents\u2019 contact rate has improved, as has the quality of said contact. Opposing batters have averaged a gaudy 90.9 mph off the bat with a 50% hard-hit rate dating back to last season. From 2015-22, those numbers sat at a combined 88.8 mph and 35.2%, respectively.<\/p>\n

The Brewers, of course, have a reputation as one of the better pitching development organizations in the industry. Milwaukee\u2019s \u201cpitch lab\u201d has helped engineer turnarounds and\/or breakouts for hurlers like Quinn Priester<\/a>, Kyle Harrison<\/a>, Tobias Myers<\/a>, Trevor Megill<\/a>, Joel Payamps<\/a>, Bryan Hudson<\/a> and Bryse Wilson<\/a> upon acquiring them in recent years. They\u2019ll hope to add McCullers to that list of success stories, though the six years of control over Gordon they\u2019re picking up is the more appealing end of the deal for them.<\/p>\n

Gordon has only 95 1\/3 big league innings to his name \u2014 just 9 1\/3 of them coming this season. He\u2019s been tagged for an ugly 5.95 ERA in that small sample, fanning a below-average 19.3% of his opponents with an outstanding 5.1% walk rate along the way. Gordon has been far too homer-prone \u2014 the short left-field porch at Houston\u2019s Daikin Park isn\u2019t helping him in that regard \u2014 despite doing a decent job of avoiding hard contact.<\/p>\n

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While Gordon\u2019s major league track record is lacking, he\u2019s been quite effective in Triple-A. He\u2019s pitched in parts of four seasons at the top minor league level, turning in a sub-4.00 ERA in each of the past three. Overall, in 285 innings with Houston\u2019s Triple-A affiliate in Sugar Land, Gordon touts a 3.85 ERA, a 21.8% strikeout rate and a 7.5% walk rate. He\u2019s in the second of three minor league option years and can thus be freely shuttled between Milwaukee and Nashville both this year and next.<\/p>\n

The 6\u20194\u2033, 225-pound Gordon was Houston\u2019s eighth-round pick back in 2021. He\u2019s a five-pitch lefty who sits 91.1 mph on his four-seamer, complementing that primary offering with a sinker (averaging 91.4 mph), slider (81.1 mph), changeup (83.8 mph) and curveball (75.5 mph). He\u2019s been hit hard by righties and lefties alike in the majors but has a stronger track record against southpaws in the minors. Back in 2024, he held both righties and lefties to a sub-.700 OPS in 123 1\/3 Triple-A frames.<\/p>\n

The extent to which Milwaukee can control Gordon will depend on how much time he spends on the big league roster through season\u2019s end. He entered the 2026 campaign with 112 days of major league service and has since tacked on another 14. If he spends 46 more days on the major league roster\/injured list, he\u2019d reach one full year of service time and be controllable five more years, through 2031. If Gordon spends 45 days or fewer on the active roster\/injured list \u2014 there are 74 calendar days left in the regular season \u2014 he\u2019d fall shy of one full year and be controlled six full seasons, all the way through 2032.<\/p>\n

The acquisitions of McCullers and Gordon come at a time when the Brewers\u2019 rotation has taken some notable hits. The aforementioned Priester recently underwent thoracic outlet surgery and won\u2019t pitch this season. Harrison, whose 2026 breakout mirrored Priester\u2019s 2025 season, was placed on the injured list a week ago and revealed that he\u2019s been experiencing some elbow pain for a few starts beforehand. Brandon Woodruff<\/a> has been terrific this season but lasted only three starts in his recent return from the injured list before landing on the 60-day IL due to recurring symptoms. He\u2019s made just nine starts overall (albeit with an excellent 2.98 ERA).<\/p>\n

That trio of injuries has compromised the Brewers\u2019 major league rotation and minor league depth. Today\u2019s trade figures to help both. At the moment, Milwaukee\u2019s rotation is headlined by NL Cy Young front-runner Jacob Misiorowski<\/a>, but there\u2019s little certainty thereafter.<\/p>\n

Logan Henderson<\/a> is a top-100 prospect who\u2019s pitched quite well to begin his young career, but he has only 53 2\/3 MLB frames under his belt to date. Brandon Sproat<\/a> is another recent top-100 arm who\u2019s begun to solidify himself after a rocky start to the season. Robert Gasser<\/a> is yet another formerly touted arm who\u2019s been good more often than not this season. (His 5.24 ERA is skewed by a seven-run hiccup in a July 12 start.) However, he\u2019s also in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery. Fellow lefty Shane Drohan<\/a> has stepped up in a big way, but the longtime Red Sox farmhand (acquired alongside Harrison in February\u2019s Caleb Durbin<\/a> trade) is a 27-year-old making his MLB debut this season.<\/p>\n

Either Gordon or McCullers \u2014 once his rehab is complete \u2014 could step into the rotation. It\u2019s also feasible that the Brewers view McCullers as a bullpen option or that they could even cut him entirely, simply using a portion of his contract as a vehicle to facilitate the acquisition of Gordon.<\/p>\n

For the Astros, shedding any portion of the McCullers deal is a small victory. As shown in MLBTR\u2019s new Payroll Tracker<\/a>, Houston\u2019s competitive balance tax obligations sat at $238,329,588 prior to this trade. That placed them just $5.67MM from the luxury tax threshold \u2014 a barrier that owner Jim Crane typically prefers to avoid. The Astros have crossed that line under Crane twice in the past, but it\u2019s also frequently been a driving factor behind several notable trades (e.g. the trade of Kyle Tucker<\/a>) and has unequivocally limited the front office at times while they\u2019ve pursued various needs. Moving McCullers creates a bit more breathing room and also proactively addresses the question of how they\u2019ll address his roster spot when his rehab assignment concludes next week.<\/p>\n

The trade figures to be the first of several for both teams. Houston is looking for a left-handed-hitting outfielder and some help in the bullpen. Milwaukee has been on the hunt for more pitching depth as well as a right-handed bat and potentially some help on the left side of the infield. Both parties have just under three weeks to check those boxes, and today\u2019s unexpected swap serves as a starting point for each.<\/p>\n

Brian McTaggart of MLB.com first reported<\/a> that the two sides were finalizing a trade involving McCullers. The Athletic\u2019s Chandler Rome added<\/a> that McCullers had formally waived his no-trade clause. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported<\/a> that Milwaukee would cover a portion of McCullers\u2019 remaining contract, and Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported<\/a> Gordon\u2019s inclusion in the deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brewers are adding some depth to a pitching staff that has taken some notable hits in recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":764895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[208916,69753,99],"class_list":["post-764894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-colton-gordon","tag-lance-mccullers-jr","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/764895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}