The Brewers activated newly-acquired righty Lance McCullers Jr. from the 15-day injured list for the start of the second half. Lefty Jared Koenig was optioned to Triple-A Nashville in a corresponding move.
McCullers’ tenure in Milwaukee will begin in the bullpen, manager Pat Murphy told reporters (link via Adam McCalvy of MLB.com). Logan Henderson got the ball for tonight’s opener with the Marlins. Shane Drohan and Robert Gasser will round out the series.
That’ll leave the first two games of next week’s series against the Mets to Brandon Sproat and Jacob Misiorowski in some order. The latter was scratched from his final start before the All-Star Break with arm fatigue but is good to go for the New York series. The Mets have already listed Freddy Peralta as their starter for Monday’s opener at American Family Field. There’s a chance he could match up against Sproat, one of the two prospects for whom he was traded, in his return to Milwaukee — and likely one of his final few starts as a Met.
McCullers hasn’t made a major league appearance since May 13. The righty had taken eight starts for the Astros and was tagged for a 6.86 earned run average across 39 1/3 innings. He has missed the last two months with shoulder inflammation. McCullers built up to 77 pitches on a rehab assignment. Milwaukee could’ve given him a starter’s workload but evidently preferred not to disrupt their current rotation.
That trade was as much about acquiring a depth starter with minor league options, Colton Gordon, whom the Brewers assigned to Triple-A. Milwaukee ate around $2.5MM of McCullers’ $17MM salary to essentially “purchase” Gordon from a Houston team up against the luxury tax line. The Brewers have some leeway in the standings to see if they can make a few adjustments to get McCullers on track. They presumably presented the veteran with an early plan when he agreed to waive his no-trade rights.
The corresponding move is also of some note, as it marks the first time that Koenig has been sent down in two years. He was on the active roster all of last season, while this year’s Triple-A work came on a rehab stint working back from elbow inflammation. Koenig had an excellent 2025 campaign, turning in a 2.86 ERA while striking out more than a quarter of opponents across 66 innings. He has allowed nine runs (seven earned) on 12 hits and seven walks this year. Most of the damage came in the final game before the Break, as Koenig failed to retire any of the five hitters he faced in a blowout loss to Pittsburgh.
Milwaukee entered the season with one of the best left-handed relief units in MLB. Injuries to Angel Zerpa (Tommy John surgery) and Rob Zastryzny (trap strain) — plus Koenig’s elbow issue and subsequent struggles — have thinned the group considerably. They’re down to just Aaron Ashby at the moment, making a second southpaw a potential deadline target. Any of Drohan, Gasser or Gordon could also factor into the bullpen once Milwaukee gets Kyle Harrison back from the forearm tightness that shelved him just before the Break.
Harrison has maintained confidence it’ll be a short-term absence. It’s crucial that he and Misiorowski are both healthy down the stretch. Quinn Priester is done for the year after undergoing thoracic outlet surgery, and it seems all but official that Brandon Woodruff won’t be back either. That was apparent when Milwaukee transferred him to the 60-day injured list over the weekend.
Murphy confirmed this afternoon that the prognosis on Woodruff’s recent shoulder injury “isn’t good.” The pitcher will meet with the Milwaukee beat in the next few days to make a formal announcement. “It’s extremely painful to even think about, knowing what he meant in this organization and knowing what he meant to this team,” Murphy told reporters (via McCalvy).
