Brewers Acquire Lance McCullers Jr. From Astros

[PBTank]

Still will need to open up a couple spots on the 40 man.  Why not send back some dead weight that will be DFA'd anyways in the deal.

[patrickgpe]

So to be honest, if the move is that we purchased a prospect by taking on 7 million dollars in salary, I won't be too happy if that limits what they can do over the next 3 weeks trade wise. Yes, its possible that Gordon can be turned around but at this point he appears to be a AAAA player. I liked the move initially assuming that Houston was going to pay some / most of his remaining salary. 

[JoeyWiemerTruther]

11 minutes ago, PBTank said:

Still will need to open up a couple spots on the 40 man.  Why not send back some dead weight that will be DFA'd anyways in the deal.

Easton McGee being traded for cash is one of those 40 man spots. Think they now have two 40 man spots available. But I hope they just DFA Kuhnel when he comes off the IL

[SeaBass]

7 minutes ago, patrickgpe said:

So to be honest, if the move is that we purchased a prospect by taking on 7 million dollars in salary, I won't be too happy if that limits what they can do over the next 3 weeks trade wise. Yes, its possible that Gordon can be turned around but at this point he appears to be a AAAA player. I liked the move initially assuming that Houston was going to pay some / most of his remaining salary. 

I don't really get it either, that's a lot of money to eat when they could conceivably spend that on somebody... good.

I'm hoping Matt Arnold is simply a time traveler and has gotten hold of the Back to the Future sports almanac and both McCullers and Gordon end up being amazing.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

11 minutes ago, JoeyWiemerTruther said:

Easton McGee being traded for cash is one of those 40 man spots. Think they now have two 40 man spots available. But I hope they just DFA Kuhnel when he comes off the IL

McGee was already DFA'd last week prior to being dealt. Bryse Wilson took his 40-man spot.

[JCREW]

Quote

• Jimbo from the 40 man forum on Monday

OFF:

P Easton McGee, DFA

P Brandon Woodruff, 60-day IL

OF Greg Jones, DFA

 

ON:

P Bryse Wilson, signed

SS Braden Shewmake, acquired

 

The 40-man roster is at 39.

 

[Outlander]

The Brewers would have to clear at least one 40 man spot to fit both players but McCullers could just go on the 60 day IL as well.

[folly412]

Another big challenge for Hook.  This could cement his Wall of Honor status.

[long ball]

Looks like we need 1 spot on the 40 man to complete the move. I’d guess a Zastryzny 60 day IL since he’s had another set back. 
 

I was just commenting yesterday that I don’t think the Brewers are to the point of needing an innings eater type, but I’d still be interested in a guy you’d trust to start a playoff game. 
 

well this move probably doesnt solve either of those scenarios. 
 

if we really are adding $6-7m in payroll for this move I don’t understand it from a fan perspective. Not my money, but I also realize what the brewers have historically spent on payroll. 
 

maybe one or both of these guys could be useful. McCullers feels like a shot in the dark hoping he can stay healthy and effective. The other guy feels like bullpen depth to replace McGee on the shuttle squad. 

[edfunderburk]

What an odd acquisition. This reminds me of the Jordan Montgomery trade last year. I’m curious if the “other player” was the goal here - but his stats are awful too. McCullers is still on the IL. He had one good start at the beginning of the year but he’s been dreadful ever since. I’m wondering if he’s close to pitching again OR if he will be released soon. Not sure how this benefits Milwaukee this year.   

[edfunderburk]

3 hours ago, JoeyWiemerTruther said:

Guy was crucial in both Astros World Series runs, mainly 2017

Yes, he was great … 10 years ago

[edfunderburk]

3 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

Like when they picked up Dallas Keuchel, they need arms. With Misiorowski having a sore arm Harrison, Woodruff on the IL and a bunch of rookies with injury histories they need someone to take the ball. 

Why not give Stallings or Pallone a few starts?

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

8 minutes ago, edfunderburk said:

Why not give Stallings or Pallone a few starts?

This.  Not a fan of this move at all

[edfunderburk]

2 hours ago, JoeyWiemerTruther said:

Gordon last 3 years in AAA has had ERAs of 3.94, 3.38, and this year 3.69

Three years in AAA is concerning

[iKezims]

15 minutes ago, edfunderburk said:

What an odd acquisition. This reminds me of the Jordan Montgomery trade last year. I’m curious if the “other player” was the goal here - but his stats are awful too. McCullers is still on the IL. He had one good start at the beginning of the year but he’s been dreadful ever since. I’m wondering if he’s close to pitching again OR if he will be released soon. Not sure how this benefits Milwaukee this year.   

While he is on the IL, he just completed his third rehab start and was scheduled to make a fourth on 7/17. So he is ready to come off of the IL whenever so he would likely be ready to make his next start at the MLB level as soon as presumptively Friday. 

[edfunderburk]

2 hours ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

Ranked as high as 10th in the Astros farm system (2023-24). 16th last year. 2021 8th round pick. Has a funky delivery. Been a starter throughout his minor league career, but I'd bet they are looking at him as a reliever.

I’d be delighted with another Drohan 

[edfunderburk]

2 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

This feels like lefty bullpen insurance and the cost is taking on McCullers (who might be able to give depth MLB innings this season). Gordon will likely cost a prospect flyer. Someone like a Tayden Hall and/or a Manuel Rodriguez? Spitballing. But with the Brewers shown capacity to take successful targeted Triple-A relievers to their next level, Houston likely has to get some type of mid-grade asset return.

My word … I certainly hope they don’t send the Astros Tayden Hall and/or a Manuel Rodriguez

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

How about the Astros eat the rest of Yelich’s contract and we will send them Blake Burton as a sweetener

[Klantz27]

30 ms between woody and lance 

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, SeaBass said:

I don't really get it either, that's a lot of money to eat when they could conceivably spend that on somebody... good.

I'm hoping Matt Arnold is simply a time traveler and has gotten hold of the Back to the Future sports almanac and both McCullers and Gordon end up being amazing.

I’ll play devils advocate, who are you going to get that’s “good” for essentially $6M and no real talent going back in exchange?

Everybody whom they view as viable starting pitcher has  AAA have already been called up.

Who knows their internal scouting report on McCullers, but it’s safe to say they like his chances to contribute i  Milwaukee more than the organizational soldiers currently pitching for them in AAA. 
 

Also worth noting rehab assignments are 30 days then the player has to be recalled or put on the injured list again. It’s possible the Astros decided to move on from him at the end of his rehab assignment rather than recall him and let other teams know he’s available.

[wiguy94]

53 minutes ago, Outlander said:

The Brewers would have to clear at least one 40 man spot to fit both players but McCullers could just go on the 60 day IL as well.

I'd guess Rob Z will just be moved to the 60 day. He's been on the IL since June 3rd and just had another setback.

[craigharmann]

This is a very interesting deal. Gordon is definitely a AAAA guy. Lance has tried to gut it out, but I think time has caught up to him. I've seen it up close living in Houston. I'm hoping for his sake, the Brewers get him another WS ring. It's an absolute salary dump for the Astros, but I'm not sure what it is on the Brewers end. I guess a lottery ticket hoping he'll catch lightning in a bottle.

[SeaBass]

3 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

I’ll play devils advocate, who are you going to get that’s “good” for essentially $6M and no real talent going back in exchange?

Everybody whom they view as viable starting pitcher has  AAA have already been called up.

Who knows their internal scouting report on McCullers, but it’s safe to say they like his chances to contribute i  Milwaukee more than the organizational soldiers currently pitching for them in AAA

Thanks for trying to look at both sides, I am also. I'm far from grabbing a pitchfork and torch. It's just very puzzling to me.

For a team that traded Freddy Peralta and his $8M salary, taking on close to $7M for an injured pitcher that's thrown around 95 innings of subpar baseball since 2022 doesn't scream "we gotta make this deal". That's not to say I didn't approve the Peralta deal, I'm really good with it. It's just very puzzling.

Add in any expectation of making further trades before the deadline and it gets more puzzling. Are they going to avoid big money on those because of this trade? Seems like a valid concern. The players themselves don't really bother me, it's all pretty much a strange feel because of the money due to McCullers.

We don't even really know if the report that the Brewers are absorbing the full amount are true or not. It could change, which would change how I feel about it.

[Dadbauer]

15 minutes ago, craigharmann said:

This is a very interesting deal. Gordon is definitely a AAAA guy. Lance has tried to gut it out, but I think time has caught up to him. I've seen it up close living in Houston. I'm hoping for his sake, the Brewers get him another WS ring. It's an absolute salary dump for the Astros, but I'm not sure what it is on the Brewers end. I guess a lottery ticket hoping he'll catch lightning in a bottle.

I don't think you can declare that a guy with 9 major league innings is definitely a AAAA guy - Priester and Harrison didn't have a ton of major league success before coming here and that was with a much larger sample. I'm not saying Gordon will match them, but declaring him a bust after 9 innings is insane to me.

EDIT - Ah, I misread and thought this year was his first year with big league innings. The sample size is larger, but I still tend to trust our pitching development. 

[Sugarrayray]

As much as I blame the owner for being cheap, this is Arnold’s one notable fault. He hoards prospects to the point of damn near congesting the system. Instead of ever parting with a good prospect for a good return near the deadline, he always attempts these weird ways to improve marginally. Pretty much none of his tradeline acquisitions have worked.

 

The Brewers don’t need to improve marginally. They need someone who can help them compete in a series with the Dodgers. They could trade for a great young controllable player and still have the best farm system in ball. These Shelby Miller type trade’s are so lame and show such an obsessive aversion of ever trading a real prospect from depth.