The Milwaukee Brewers designated right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. for assignment on Sunday, cutting bait with the veteran pitcher less than two weeks after trading for him. The move cleared a 40-man roster spot to recall right-hander Garrett Stallings from Triple-A Nashville.
Eleven days. That’s how long a two-time World Series champion lasted in a Brewers uniform. You don’t need a film room to know that’s faster than most guys finish a postgame spread.
The Brewers announced the decision before their series finale against the Colorado Rockies at American Family Field. It came one day after McCullers’ second and final appearance for Milwaukee — a relief outing that laid bare why the Brewers were ready to move on. Entering with an 8-2 lead in the eighth inning, McCullers walked four batters across 1 2/3 innings, allowed a hit and two free passes in the ninth, and needed Trevor Megill to bail him out for the final out of an 8-5 win.
In two appearances with Milwaukee, McCullers posted a 3.86 ERA over 4 2/3 innings. He struck out five, walked five, and allowed five runs — three earned. The bullpen role itself was foreign territory: he had started 148 of his 154 career outings with Houston.
The Brewers acquired McCullers and left-handed pitching prospect Colton Gordon from the Astros on July 15 in exchange for minor-league outfielder Jadyn Fielder, son of former Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder. Houston sent $4,227,273 to cover most of what remained on McCullers’ $17 million salary for 2026, leaving Milwaukee on the hook for roughly $2.5 million. That money bought 4 2/3 innings of big-league work and a look at a pitcher whose body has been betraying him for years.
McCullers, 32, was on the injured list with shoulder inflammation when the trade went down. He hadn’t pitched for Houston since May 13 and carried a 6.86 ERA across eight starts this season. His sinker, once a 94 mph weapon, now sits at 91.4. Opposing batters have averaged 90.9 mph off the bat against him since his return — hard contact on half the balls put in play.
The Astros, meanwhile, shed a chunk of the five-year, $85 million extension they gave McCullers before 2021. He missed all of 2019 after Tommy John surgery and sat out 2023 and 2024 following flexor tendon surgery. From 2015 through 2021, he gave Houston 671 innings with a 3.57 ERA. Since then, injuries have limited him to 142 1/3 big-league frames.
For Milwaukee, the trade may have been less about McCullers than about Gordon, a 27-year-old lefty with six potential years of club control and a respectable Triple-A track record — a 3.85 ERA across 285 innings at Sugar Land. The Brewers’ pitch lab has engineered reclamation projects before. McCullers just wasn’t going to be one of them.
As a veteran with more than five years of major-league service, McCullers can elect free agency if he clears waivers rather than accepting a minor-league assignment. Where he lands next — if anywhere — will depend on whether another club sees something left in an arm that has been through more surgeries than most pitchers survive.
- Yahoo Sports / AP — Brewers designate Lance McCullers for assignment
- Yahoo Sports / Sporting News — Why Brewers are parting ways with Lance McCullers
- MLB Trade Rumors — Astros trade Lance McCullers Jr. to Brewers
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — Brewers trade for Astros pitchers