Brewers trade for McCullers, Gordon from Astros to bolster pitching depth (source)

MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers reached the All-Star break with the second-best record in the Majors but also in need of starting pitching, and so they were working on another move Wednesday to expand their depth.

MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reported the Astros were finalizing a trade that would send former All-Star right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. to Milwaukee and that another starter, left-hander Colton Gordon, was also going to Milwaukee in the deal.

The return was not immediately known. The Brewers haven't confirmed any trade.

The additions would arrive at a time the Brewers have varying levels of concern about three key starters in Brandon Woodruff, Kyle Harrison and Jacob Misiorowski. Woodruff’s move late last week to the 60-day injured list was indicative of the severity of his recent shoulder setback, and Harrison landed on the 15-day IL before the break with left forearm tightness. Misiorowski isn’t injured, but the Brewers scratched him from his scheduled start against the Pirates in the first-half finale and held him out of the All-Star Game, citing arm fatigue. It would not be a surprise to see Misiorowski get an extended rest coming out of the break.

With few established starting options beyond that trio, and with 2025 standout Quinn Priester sidelined until 2027 by thoracic outlet syndrome, Brewers officials have been looking to re-establish some depth. They made one move just before the break by re-signing right-handed swingman Bryse Wilson after he’d been released by the Cubs.

Gordon, 27, similarly has bounced between the Majors and Minors, and between starting and relief. He also has Minor League options remaining, all of which adds up to the sort of flexibility the Brewers so often covet.

In McCullers, 32, they are acquiring a veteran who helped the Astros win a pair of World Series titles in 2017 and ‘21 but has endured a long list of injuries since then, including a right rotator cuff impingement that currently has him on the 15-day injured list. McCullers had limited no-trade protection in his contract, but he also has "10-and-5 rights," which gives him complete veto power on any trade proposal. A 10-and-5 player has accrued 10 years in the big leagues and five with the same organization.

McCullers was scheduled to make his fourth Minor League rehab start on Friday, this one for Double-A Corpus Christi, coming off a 77-pitch outing for Triple-A Albuquerque in his most recent outing on July 7. His pitch count and velocity in that outing suggested he was nearing a return to Houston’s rotation, as McCullers topped out at 93.3 mph, right in line with his’ peak velocity during his eight starts in the Majors to begin this season. He was 2-3 with a 6.86 ERA in eight Astros starts before being scratched from a scheduled start on May 19.

The shoulder issue that landed him back on the IL for a fifth consecutive season was the latest in a series of injuries -- Tommy John surgery forced him to miss the 2019 season, and various forearm injuries cost him two more full seasons in 2023 and ‘24 -- have kept McCullers from fulfilling the promise he showed while breaking into the big leagues with Houston in 2015 at age 21, making the American League All-Star team in 2017 at age 23, and posting a 3.47 ERA in 19 career playoff games (12 starts).

McCullers’ most notable postseason moment came in Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS against the Yankees, when he threw the final four innings in relief in Houston, allowing no runs and one hit to clinch the AL pennant. He famously threw 24 consecutive curveballs to end the game.

McCullers also started Game 7 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium that season and tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings -- a game more notable for him hitting four batters and driving in a run with the bat -- to help Houston win its first World Series.

The son of former big league pitcher Lance McCullers, McCullers Jr. is 53-40 with a 3.85 ERA and 904 strikeouts in 813 1/3 regular-season innings in his career. He is earning $17 million this season in the final year of the five-year, $85 million contract extension he signed with Houston in 2021 Spring Training, but has been limited to 142 1/3 innings over the five injury-interrupted seasons covered in that deal.

In one stretch from his early exit in Game 3 of the 2022 World Series and his return to action on May 4, 2025, McCullers went 915 days between Major League starts.

“I have no reservations about my future in baseball,” he said earlier this year. “God’s blessed me, man. I have two beautiful daughters. I have a beautiful wife. We’ve been married 10 years, together 16, 17 years, so if the future for me is to be home with them, I’ll be happy with that. I’ll be content with that, you know? But if the future for me is to be in this game, if I can be healthy and help a team win, I’ll be happy with that, too.”