The Cubs have signed right-hander Adrian Houser to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He started yesterday’s game for Triple-A Iowa, tossing 46 pitches over 2 2/3 innings.
Houser, 31, started the year in the Mets’ rotation but was later bumped to the bullpen and eventually off the roster entirely. By the first week of May, he had made six starts but allowed 26 earned runs in 28 2/3 innings for an 8.16 earned run average. He then made two relief appearances before making his seventh start of the year, in which he allowed six earned runs in five innings.
He only pitched in relief from that point forward and had much better results. From May 26 to July 24, he tossed 31 2/3 relief innings with a 3.41 ERA. His 18.6% strikeout rate was low but his 6.2% walk rate and 51.6% ground ball rate were both strong.
Those numbers were roughly in line with his previous track record. From 2019 to 2023 with the Brewers, he made 120 appearances, 97 of those being starts. In that time, he had a 4.04 ERA, 19.2% strikeout rate, 9.2% walk rate and 52.5% ground ball rate.
That suggests Houser was more or less the same guy with the Mets this year, apart from the rough start to the campaign. Though he had gotten things back on track, the Mets were getting various injured pitchers back from the IL and needed roster spots, nudging Houser off.
Since Houser has more than five years of major league service time, he had the right to reject an outright assignment while retaining all that remained of this year’s $5.05MM salary. Since he was bound for the open market anyway, the Mets simply released him. That leaves them on the hook for what’s left of that salary while the Cubs will only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay.
The Cubs’ major league rotation is in a decent spot, consisting of Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Javier Assad and Kyle Hendricks. But they have some starting depth on the shelf right now, as each of Ben Brown, Jordan Wicks and Hayden Wesneski are on the IL. Prospects like Cade Horton and Kohl Franklin are also injured at the moment, further thinning out the emergency options. Based on yesterday’s usage, it seems the Cubs will stretch Houser out and he will give them some experienced non-roster depth who can be called upon for essentially no cost at some point.
I wish they’d just keep him in the BP. That’s where they need some depth. Maybe starting was a condition of his deal.. Well, it won’t cost much either way.
I’m surprised the Mets got rid of him tbh.
Seemed to have found himself as the 2 in the 1-2 long relief punch with Butto.
Then he was squeezed off.
I’d keep him in long relief.
The manager has him for years in Milwaukee- should know him well – probably will take Hendricks place next year
Brown, Wicks, and eventually Horton are the #4 and #5 starters. If anything, he might replace Smyly as the veteran abusable guy.
The adage you can never have enough pitching has never been more true than this season
I figured this would happen given that Counsell is familiar with him. There are four spots where he can throw September spot starts against non-playoff teams, @COL, OAK, WAS, @CIN. If they want to limit innings for their young starters, they can throw Houser and Hendricks in those series while keeping Steele and Imanaga fresh for games against playoff contenders.
I don’t see him being a Cub next year, this is just a way to get some August AAA and September major league innings for free.
I hope he does well. Always a competitor as a Brewer. A Ham and Egger until this year!
Iowa’s rotation now is Killian( Building up), Noland, Birdsell, Straily( Bum), Wicks ( Rehab) and Houser( ?). Hopefully Brown and Wesneski join soon and maybe some of these guys can be on their way. Iowa has some pretty good relievers that can’t even get a look because the Cubs pen has been dealing since late June. Neely looks like a pretty good pick up. Things look bright for a Cubs relief core in 25. A short term Closer would still be a nice add.
I don’t think they will pay Alzolay his arb salary next year, and he’s making $2.1M right now. Take that and add it to Hendricks’ salary, and they should be able to afford a decent closer. The current bullpen has done well lately, and all those guys can fight for appearances in the 7th and 8th.
Bwahahahaha….lolololololol
Congrats on finally winning that first game in like a month. So proud of the little guys.
I was looking forward to the Cubs handing the White Sox their 24th straight loss and the fire works display scheduled for after that game. Oh well
@drasco – i honestly was happy to see that they won won bc now the pressures off the cubs who really seem to fumble in these moments of the rivalry.
Like the cubs should beat them easily in both those games, but we all have seen who they are this season and we all know how either the offense or BP can disappear at any time.