The Milwaukee Brewers made the first loud move of the deadline season, and they did it by borrowing a page from the Chicago Cubs’ own playbook.
While the Cubs are still hunting for pitching wherever they can find it, Milwaukee jumped ahead with a surprise trade with the Houston Astros, adding veteran right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. as the calendar turns toward deadline mode. The Brewers are also getting left-hander Colton Gordon in the deal, though details of the trade were still coming out.
The timing makes sense for Milwaukee. Their pitching staff has started to wobble, even if not to the same degree as Chicago’s.
There’s a real chance Brandon Woodruff doesn’t pitch again for the Brewers this season, and Jacob Misiorowski also came into the All-Star break dealing with fatigure. The Brewers don’t sound overly worried about Misiorowski, but they clearly wanted another arm in the mix.
McCullers is a notable gamble. He was one of the last remaining pieces from Houston’s dynasty run over the past decade, but injuries have dragged him down in recent seasons.
He made just 16 appearances last year and finished with a 6.51 ERA. This season hasn’t gone much better for the 32-year-old, who posted a 6.86 ERA in eight starts.
He had also been open about where things stood for him. McCullers previously said he would rather retire if he couldn’t help the Astros, and with his contract set to expire at the end of this season, there was already speculation that could be the outcome. Instead, the Brewers got him to waive his no-trade clause and head to Milwaukee.
In a lot of ways, this looks like Milwaukee making the kind of early depth move the Cubs have been trying to pull off themselves. It’s not hard to see the idea: add a veteran arm now, sort out the rest later, and hope there’s enough left in the tank to matter. McCullers probably isn’t being brought in as a lock for October’s playoff rotation, but the Brewers are betting on the possibility that they can get something useful out of him.
With the 2026 MLB Draft finished and the All-Star break nearly behind everyone, the deadline market is starting to take shape. Jed Hoyer has suggested teams may wait closer to August 3 to make their moves, but Milwaukee clearly wasn’t interested in waiting around. For the Cubs, who still have multiple pitching needs, the message is plain enough: if there’s a deal to be had early, it may be worth jumping first.
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