Lance McCullers Jr. Agrees To Begin the 2026 Trade Deadline
The first deal of the 2026 trade deadline was interesting more than it was important.
On Wednesday, the Astros sent Lance McCullers Jr., Colton Gordon, and cash considerations to the Brewers in exchange for Jadyn Fielder, the son of Prince Fielder. The Athletic’s Chandler Rome described the deal as a “salary dump” for Houston, noting that owner Jim Crane convinced McCullers to waive his no-trade clause to help the team manage its budget and roster. The Brewers were happy to oblige, adding depth and taking on a new pitcher project, parting with the son of a franchise legend to do so.
The deal marks the end of an era in Houston. The Astros drafted McCullers 41st overall in 2012, the same year they took Carlos Correa first overall. He developed right alongside the Astros as they progressed from tankers to titans, often serving as an exemplar for their forward-thinking pitching strategy. Nobody threw a higher rate of curveballs (44%) from 2015 through 2018 than McCullers, even going so far as to throw 24 straight curveballs to close out a four-inning save in Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS.
Unfortunately, McCullers’ career never quite took off the way his early success suggested it might. He made his first trip to the injured list in 2016, and he’s returned every year since, averaging just 68 innings per season. He missed all of 2019 following Tommy John surgery. He eventually returned with his best-ever performance in 2021, posting 3.2 WAR in 162.1 innings — a season good enough to secure a five-year deal. But he missed most of 2022 and all of 2023 and 2024 with various arm injuries. He finally returned in 2025 but pitched poorly between even more IL stints.
McCullers has thrown 39.1 innings over eight starts in 2026. He has not been good. His average fastball velocity is 91.3 mph, which is down about three ticks from his former greatness. The curveball is still effective, but he’s not throwing it as often anymore, now boasting a broader six-pitch mix. His primary offering is a cutter or a sinker, depending on the handedness of the batter. The Brewers are known for preferring variant fastballs to the straight stuff, though neither pitch has been effective for McCullers this year. He’s also currently back on the injured list, this time with a rotator cuff impingement. He was scheduled to pitch in a fourth rehab assignment outing Friday, so he could return to the majors soon.
McCullers has 10-and-5 rights, meaning he had to give the Astros his blessing in order to be dealt. This was no small decision, as he told Rome after the deal was announced. McCullers never wanted to play for a different team, but he agreed to waive his veto rights after talking with Crane. McCullers said he wanted to “leave the Astros in the best situation they could for their goals this year.” He mentioned his love and respect for both Crane and the team several times, and noted that he’s ready for a fresh start.
Still, for the Astros, it’s partially salary dump. They agreed to pay the Brewers $4.2 million of the roughly $7 million left on McCullers’ contract, creating a small salary savings, according to the Associated Press. The Astros are already near the first luxury tax threshold and they’re looking to add at the trade deadline, particularly a lefty-hitting outfielder and a high-leverage reliever. They also have a looming roster crunch, with Hayden Wesneski and Ronel Blanco set to return from the 60-day IL shortly after the break. Clearing McCullers opens a spot on the 40-man roster.
So does trading Gordon, who also goes to Milwaukee in the deal. Gordon is 27-year-old lefty with 95 innings in the majors going back to last year. He has not been good in those innings, to be clear, with a 5.95 ERA and 5.86 FIP, though he has fared better in the minors, with a 3.69 ERA at Triple-A. He throws slow (about as slow as McCullers these days) and is hittable, to put it kindly — his 2.55 HR/9 is the worst in the majors since last year.
The Brewers are the league’s current “what do they know” team. They have a knack for finding success in unlikely places. Matthew Trueblood noted for Brewer Fanatic that Gordon has many of the physical traits they typically favor. He has great extension, great command, and a nice sweeper going for him. Trueblood said Brewers could also have Gordon make a few mechanical changes, such as ditching his crossfire stride in favor of a more direct path from the rubber to the plate. He seems like he could be more of a short-term development project, though with years of remaining team control and another minor league option after this season, there’s flexibility on that score; Gordon isn’t even arbitration eligible until 2029 or 2030, depending on how much more time he sees in the majors this year.
It’s not clear if or when or how the Brewers will use either McCullers or Gordon. Milwaukee is dealing with a string of injuries in its big league the rotation. Kyle Harrison landed on the IL last week with forearm tightness, and Brandon Woodruff returned to the IL earlier in the month with shoulder inflammation; he’s been moved to the 60-day and is now seeking a second opinion. Meanwhile, Quinn Priester is out indefinitely following thoracic outlet surgery in June, and Jacob Misiorowski is dealing with a bit of fatigue and is day-to-day. The Brewers did just get Logan Henderson back from the IL and have several interesting hybrid starter options, so they aren’t quite desperate for either of their new pitchers to join the rotation in the near term. Indeed, it’s possible that one or both of McCullers or Gordon could move to the bullpen. Still, the move bolsters their depth.
The final player in the trade is Fielder, son of Prince, grandson of Cecil. He signed with the Brewers in 2024 as an undrafted free agent and has largely held his own. He has a 125 wRC+ in Single-A this year, with a 18.8% walk rate and a 24.4% strikeout rate. His prospect status is such that we have not written about him to this point, but his performance suggests that could change. At the very least, his name gives this modest deal another notable angle, making multiple generations of people feel old at once. And with it, trade season is here.
Ryan Blake is a contributor for FanGraphs and Lookout Landing.
This probably won’t amount to much at all, but getting a couple depth pitchers whose SIERA and xFIPs are in much more reasonable territory than their ERA for basically a salary dump seems prudent enough
A son for a grandson. It’s like the trade was orchestrated by an estate lawyer trying to avoid avoid taxes by generation skipping. As a Brewers fan this seems like a no lose deal that has at least some upside appeal.
As a Brewers fan I like the deal. Odds are it won’t move the needle much, but I never underestimate what the team can do with projects.
Brewers need to ride Gasser, B. Wilson, McCullers, Gordon, Yoho, Crow, Rom and Stallings as hard as feasible for the next month and pray doing so doesn’t cost them the division. Can’t roll into October with all their high-ceiling arms on fumes … again.
McCullers is done unfortunately. If the Brewers need someone who can throw one inning in a blowout then maybe.
This is basically Fielder and salary relief for Gordon.
I think McCullers could be an effective weapon out of the bullpen as a lefty. Against lefties his performance has held up. He might gain a little velo back and more heavily feature his curveball if he no longer has to navigate multiple innings with diminished stuff and instead focus on just his best pitches instead. Who knows maybe he would stay healthier that way too.
It will be interesting to see if he plans in pitching next year or if he plans to hang up his spikes. In the spring he made comments about essentially being in a good place with his family and financially. That he hoped to be healthy this year but he sounded at peace with whatever may come next.
I have also wondered about whether he would make more sense as a reliever. He’s throwing each of a cutter, sinker, slider, and knuckle curve more than 15% of the time. The breaking stuff still gets positive pitch grades on Stuff+, and the cutter plays to neutral. You don’t need all those pitches if you’re pitching one inning at a time.
Seeing reporting today that the Brewers are planning on having him pitch in relief. I think that could be a real path forward and could extend his career significantly. Emphasis on could as its speculation, and who knows if he wants to play past this year. Considering how much time he’s lost it really seems that he has made peace with his baseball mortality. I don’t really understand why Houston didn’t try it they have holes in both their pen and rotation but he really looks like a potentially good arm in relief.
A similar conversion worked for Drew Pomeranz and his injury history was about as lengthy.
There are a few different parts of this for the Brewers.
First: The Brewers have made an effort to stock a lot of left-handed pitchers this year, especially in the bullpen. But four of the lefty relievers are hurt, and a fifth got promoted to the rotation (Drohan). In the rotation, Gasser has been inconsistent and Harrison is currently hurt. This gives them another lefty depth option while they try and rebuild him.
Second: Houston is a tough place to play for a left-handed pitcher because right handed hitters can park balls in that short left field. Virtually all of his short and terrible 2026 has come at home, only pitching one inning on the road. His ERA is nearly two runs higher at home than on the road over his career. He hasn’t been great at home either, but he has been playable. Just getting him out of there is going to yield some improvements, and maybe more if things are snowballing.
Third: The Brewers’ secret is that they are really good at coaching pitch tunneling. And I think it’s pretty clear that whatever is going on with Gordon, it involves the hitter recognizing the ball out of his hand well. This is not a guy who is going to beat you with velocity, so you have to find some other way to fix him up. He’s already got a good slider, if they can help him find a way to tunnel a fastball with it you could have a decent player.
No post on the Jacob Gonzalez trade yet? 🙁