Just 11 months after being released by the Cubs, Adrian Houser may be a candidate to return to Wrigleyville. The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney writes that Houser is one of many pitchers the Cubs “are considering” as deadline upgrades.
The Cubs got a first-hand look at Houser just last night, as he tossed 6 2/3 innings while allowing three earned runs on five hits and three walks in a 12-5 White Sox win over the crosstown rivals. It was Houser’s ninth quality start in 11 outings this season, resulting in a sterling 2.10 ERA for the veteran right-hander over 68 2/3 innings. Houser’s 4.51 SIERA is much less flattering, as he has achieved his success despite a middling walk rate and a 17.1% strikeout rate that ranks only in the 15th percentile of all pitchers.
Houser has also allowed a lot of hard contact, but he has done a good job of avoiding the most damaging types of contact, as his 4.9% barrel rate is one of the league’s best. The righty has also limited fly balls altogether, with a very solid 47.3% grounder rate. His signature sinker continues to be a very effective pitcher, and while Houser’s 95.1mph fastball is only slightly above league average velo-wise, it represents the highest velocity of Houser’s nine MLB seasons.
Even if some regression is inevitable, Houser has at least bounced back nicely from a rough 2024 season. He posted a 5.84 ERA over 69 1/3 innings with the Mets before being designated for assignment and then released in late July. The Cubs and Orioles each signed Houser to minor league deals over the remainder of the 2024 season but he didn’t receive any big league playing time with either club. Another minors deal with the Rangers in the offseason also didn’t go anywhere and he was released by Texas in mid-May, but soon landed with the White Sox on a guaranteed one-year deal worth a prorated $1.35MM salary.
That contract has ended up being a tremendous bargain for the Sox, who now look to further benefit by flipping Houser before the July 31 trade deadline. The return will be pretty limited for a rental pitcher with Houser’s spotty Statcast metrics and career history, but the 32-year-old has certainly performed well enough to get onto the radar of the many contenders that in search of rotation help.
The Cubs have one of baseball’s best lineups, so improving the rotation and bullpen has been the team’s chief goal as the deadline approaches. Houser has worked as a swingman and long reliever in the past, so he could help Chicago in both regards depending on how the Cubs might choose to deploy him, or depending on what other arms could be joining Houser either as deadline adds or as internal returns. As Mooney notes, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad are on track to return from the injured list in August, but that won’t be until well after the deadline, and the Cubs need pitching help now in their battle with the Brewers for the NL Central lead.
Dylan Cease and Mitch Keller are among the starters who have been linked to the Cubs on the rumor mill. Chicago is also heavily involved in the bullpen market and is reportedly looking for third base help, so president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has plenty of plates in the air this close to July 31. If the Cubs invest more of their trade capital in landing a third baseman or a blue chip reliever, Houser represents more of a less expensive backup plan for the rotation in terms of both salary owed and trade cost.
No thank you. He turns into prime Pedro Martinez and all but shuts down the Cubs last night in a blowout loss for the Cubs. And now they’re interested in him. Hard pass. I hope the Cubs never made a trade with the other Chicago baseball team again. Only once has that ever worked out.
Quintana trade worked out for them. Q was good for them.
You’re right Quintana was decent for the Cubs. I just don’t think he was worth trading Dylan Cease and Eloy Jimenez ( who is now 8 years later a shell of his former self)
Also 2017 nlcs Kiki Hernandez apparently took that trade personal when he hit 3 Homeruns in one game. I think 2 were off Q.
Like I said. He has a pulse so……….Don’t know about the shiny part though.
Yeah, you really don’t want a rotation with Houser and Rea. Holy Brewers castoffs Batman.
Rip someone else for him. Don’t need any White Sox.
Caissie headed to Sox.
That would be a great return. LH power OF 22 years old. But I don’t see it happening unless the Cubs are unable to get another effective starter elsewhere for less. But the Cubs are in desperate to win now mode so anything can happen.
Agree with Logjammer. Houser should not be a serious consideration for a team with playoff aspirations. He was auditioning for Counsell last night, but Cub hitters are in a funk and they were easy pickings last night.
6-2 w/ a 2.10 ERA. 3.29 FIP. If the Cubs want him they will have to pay.
Nah. It wouldn’t cost any more than, say, a Brett Bateman. That would probably work, because the White Sox are head-over-heels in love with outfielders who don’t hit for power.
Ivan Brethowr, thats all it takes for me. Done deal, send us Brethowr!
Nope. 7th round. 22 years old in high A and can’t hit. No power. Bats right. Nope.
What are you going to get for Hauser, Spencer Jones?
Rumor has Cassie headed to Sox.
That is alarming, if that’s true, and that is one of the dangest flat out rumors I’ve heard but that would require a trade along the lines of Smith and Vargas or Burke and Sosa.
I like Brethowr, just waiting for him to hit. He had a down year in the slugging department but he is taking a lot of walks, that’s a good sign. He keeps that up, cuts the strikeouts a bit, and starts making contact Brethowr is a Spencer Jones like athlete.
Thank you for #21 Mr. Sammy Sosa. Got burned for Dylan Cease. Stay away from trade with Sox.
You left out Jon Garland for Matt Karchner…thank you for that.
Didn’t know corky Sosa was using massive amounts of steroids
flip owen caissie for him since the cubs don’t want to give him a shot /s
Chris Getz would be the Mayor of Chicago if could pull that one off for a waiver claim just a few short months ago.
What are you two smoking?
Could’ve picked him for nothing from Texas. Now it will cost them.
He was also in the Cubs organization last year. It was like only 4 triple A starts or something like that.
Cubs need more swing and miss SP.. We need not set a hard strikeout percentage but to win a division and go deep in the playoffs more strikeouts are a must have. Cubs seem determined to use top prospects to land controllable starters with a strong strikeout history.
Goodness no thank you. They better be aiming much higher than that. And why do half the comments above sound like they’re written by AI bots? Oh wait…
Pretty remarkable how he’s turned it around.
Hoyer doesn’t know what he’s going to do because there are so many holes needs to be filled on this team. Wouldn’t surprise me if he does nothing meaningful except band aid approach and cubs fall short again.
I wouldn’t call adding Tucker as nothing meaningful. Two starters, a BP arm and a solid bench bat. Those are the “holes”.
The Cubs do not “have one of baseball’s best lineups.” It overperformed for a while, and that still skews some of the team numbers, but it has regressed and will regress more the rest of the way.
Tucker was supposed to be the difference maker, but he has not been; he rarely gets hits that change the win probability of a game, and he sustains his OBP and OPS by walking a lot–a good thing, I suppose, but not what you’d expect from someone we were assured was “transformative” and “one of the five or 10 best players in the game.” He has had only a handful of homers in the last 2 months. He has had so little impact that I suspect an injury is part of the problem; surely he is not *this* bad.
Suzuki and PCA are hot-and-cold, Happ is having a bad year, Swanson tries to pull everything and can’t get a runner in from third with less than two outs, Hoerner isn’t making the good contact he did in past years, and Kelly should not be batting fourth, ever. Shaw rarely hits the ball hard. Busch is probably the best hitter, and even he is often overmatched by good pitchers, especially lefties.
The Cubs certainly need pitching, both starters and relievers, but they need hitting more. I am afraid Hoyer is going to trade the farm for only-okay pitchers while leaving the greater problem unaddressed, and the Cubs will slump toward another 83-79.
And how’s that thing about the Cubs’ schedule being so much easier than the Brewers’ schedule, and that being a “huge” advantage, working out, Brett Taylor? He should be ashamed of himself for peddling nonsense to Cubs fans.
I guess the second most runs in baseball isn’t enough evidence for a great lineup. That’s crazy. They have a solid TEAM and therefore pick each other up throughout the season. Look at their team stats instead of picking apart every player. And of course many are playing above their averages, that’s what all good teams do in winning years. I think their offense is just fine, but of course they could be better with some upgrades, like every other team out there. Cubs are in a great position to do well in the playoffs.
@Sean: As I wrote, they overperformed for a while, so the stats are artificially high. They are already regressing and will continue to. The offense lacks the kind of vitality–stringing together hits, wearing down pitchers, feeding off one another’s energy, putting balls in play with short, quick swings–that the Brewers have and that the young and loose White Sox have had since the break (and certainly showed last night). “Picking each other up” is exactly what the Cubs *aren’t* doing; the whole lineup has gone to sleep. The Cubs are not in great position to even make the playoffs. Saying they are, unfortunately, does not make it so.
As usual Alan, you’re wrong.
@Natural: We’ll see. The good thing about sports is that, eventually, something definitive happens. Unlike most areas of life, it finally is pretty clear-cut.
With respect, I don’t really see the point of your response, except to express animosity toward me. I’d prefer that you tell me *how* I am wrong, or *why* I am wrong. Or even which of my comments is wrong. But I suspect you are not a strong enough writer to do so coherently.
Stats can’t be artificially high. Lol. They are exactly as stated. They might not keep it going at the same pace, but I think a slight dip doesn’t mean they will continue to drop. Pointing out a Sox loss where they still scored 5 runs isn’t a good example of a bad offense.
@Sean, well, stats can be misleadingly good, in the sense that they are going to regress and are not predictive of future performance. As for the 5 runs they scored in garbage time last night–the fifth coming in on a bases-loaded walk by the indescribable Tucker–if you want to take comfort in that, you have every right to.
Baseball is a combination of the objectively measurable–how many runs a team scores, for instance–and the less countable but still observable–how they score those runs, for instance.
Scoring three runs on two reaches and a home run is good, of course. But scoring three runs on five straight reaches is better–first of all, because you might score those two guys on base too–but also because that bespeaks an offense that is operating with synergy and effectiveness, and is able to respond in the moment to how it is being pitched to. That is what the Brewers have been like for a couple of months now. That is what the White Sox have been like since the break, and is why they are the better team this weekend at Rate Field
For the Cubs, I’m sad to say, runs are things that kind of happen sometimes. The team has certain skills, and I like for instance the base running and base stealing– but for the most part they don’t have that kind of top-flight offensive synergy. They don’t have it because just when things seem to be getting going, Suzuki or PCA will have an uncompetitive strikeout, Swanson will hit a useless grounder to the third baseman, Tucker, swinging in his flat-footed way, will hit a rollover grounder or a lazy fly, Happ will be unable to take advantage of a favorable count…one or more of those things will happen. The Cubs have what might be called an “interrupted” offense. Admittedly, that was less so earlier, but it sure is so now. And they have already fallen into second place.
I am curious: You are so sure they will make the postseason. How? Do you still think they will win the division, or do you think they will get a wild-card spot?
Jesus Christ they’re 2 wins away from having the best record in baseball again. What planet do you live on? Getting crushed by the Sox last night yeah was a brutal loss but holy crap are you off. I’d have to look through more posts to figure out if you’re a White Sox, Brewers or Cardinals troll but man alive what drivel.
It’s mostly animosity toward you after you repeated racist comments earlier this year.
@ncaa: Why the hostility? It is excessive, when we have no enmity beyond a difference of opinion.
For the record, I’m a longtime passionate Cubs fan–since 1960–who desperately wants to see them make the postseason this year, which might be my last. Perhaps I tend toward a pessimistic view of the Cubs–1969 and 1973 and 1977 and 1984 and 1989 and 1998 and 2003 and 2004 and 2007 and 2008 and 2015 and 2018 and 2019 and 2020 and 2023 and others will do that–but I hope for the best, while being realistic and prepared for the worst.
If you think the Cubs will rebound and have the best record in the league again this season, I hope you’re right, but what I have learned about baseball tells me that won’t happen. The Cubs just don’t have the team the Brewers have, and the other WC contenders don’t have to play the Brewers eight more times.
If you want to tell me, civilly, what I said specifically that you think is wrong, I’d be happy to consider your points.
@Natural: I made no racist comments. Alluding to race as a topic is not being racist. And I chose my words carefully: I didn’t say Hoyer was a racist in the KKK sense of the term. I said he seemed to be more comfortable with white players from affluent backgrounds on the Cubs roster, perhaps because he unconsciously identified their way of self-presenting as more professional, steady, “trusting the process,” etc. I believe I suggested that might be a kind of “soft racism” that many white Americans sometimes shared.
If I did not communicate well, I apologize. I write as well as I can. But even if I was misunderstood as calling Hoyer an out-and-out, conscious racist– that is not being a racist. It might be a slanderous or false accusation, but it is not in itself an expression of racism.
Unless you are saying that I’m racist because I’m too friendly toward African Americans– which is a kind of Trumpian twisting around of meanings. Perhaps I have assumed good will here that does not exist.
I’m glad to see you being gracious and genteel now. Earlier this year you were decidedly not. I will refrain from any more vitriol toward you Alan.
Find me a postseason probability where the Cubs are not over 90% or are below the Brewers instead of talking out of your buttocks.
@Bucket: Just because experts, who are often wrong, say or write things, that doesn’t mean they are true. Your point is especially weak because, if you are a Cubs fan at all, you know that those probability mongers have been wrong about the Cubs’ postseason chances a number of times in very recent years, and later in the season than this.
The quality of a team has little to do with simulations. I doubt any simulation had the Brewers winning all six of their games against the Dodgers, for instance, but they did.
I’m curious, though: You obviously think the Cubs are going to make the postseason. I hope you’re right. But do you see them making it by winning the division, or as a wild card?
Thank you for yiur interest in my buttocks, by the way. We all like kindness.
They’re only a game out. It’s 50-50 that they win the division. They have a series this week with the Brewers and a big five game series later this month. They could go 2-6 and still win the division. They could go 6-2 and not make the postseason. There will be a significant number of games to play after they’re done with the Brewers.
Stop bringing up the worst case scenario all the time.
@Bucket: You’re right, the results of the games still to be played will determine the division race and the wild-card race.
But I doubt very much that the Cubs can go 2-6 in their games with the Brewers and win the division. And I think the Cubs are going to find themselves facing an aggressive, confident offense snd excellent starting pitching in those games and be overwhelmed. They might not even win two of those games.
In my comments, I am saying what I think will happen and explaining why I think that. I am not intentionally “bringing up the worst case scenario” to annoy or discourage anyone. I am telling you what I think.
And when I want to, I will continue doing that. I am not going to “stop” because you tell me to.
Bucket…he just needs to he the smartest guy in the room….every dang day.
EVERY team has the same unproductive outs that the Cubs do.
Fact remains that we have a sample size of over 100 games and the Cubs still check in right there at the top of the leaderboard in runs scored….and it doesnt matter at all how they have scored them.
Same idiot is the guy that would argue walking a guy in the ninth is worse than giving up a homer.
This Alan guy makes no sense.
That’s because he’s completely full of it. He pretends to be a Cubs fan. He’s a troll.
Why don’t the Sox offer a one year extension with a nice raise.
Houser for Jonathan Long will do it.
No, that’s too much. The Cubs would be better off bringing up Long and cutting washed-up Turner than trading Long for a so-so starting pitcher
Would probably take 2 prospects one from the #20-#30 range and one in the top 30-50.
I’d be OK with him, assuming the Cubs aren’t giving up anything valuable for him, but not if he’s the BIG acquisition. At the end of the day, he’s a 32 year old journeyman who’s having an improbable career season. If the Cubs make the playoffs with the rotation as is, they won’t get far, and I doubt that Adrian Houser will change that.
No thanks, there are better options even if they cost a little more. Diamondbacks and Pirates have starters, kick the tires on them.
Milwaukee didnt want him. The pitching starved Mets didnt want him. Every team he has faced during this run was either in a down period or a weak opponent. The Cubs have gotten real luck with the patch work pitching. As we can see its starting to show its true colors. If they are going to open the farm dont give up talent for a project. Show your serious and get top shelf players
If this is loading up the rotation it is fine. Horton should be getting into workload issues and Taillon is out til Aug. Rea is only useful when the wind is howling in.
So ya adding 2 starters makes sense. If this is Jed’s solution then he should be fired.
In the start prior to last night, Houser gave up 10 hits in 4 innings to one of the very worst offenses in MLB. His K rate is too low and his walk rate too high. Pass.
Howser and Sosa for Owen Caissie. Sosa would be a huge upgrade at 3B and the Cubs could bring Shaw in for defense later in games.
🤣
Huge upgrade at 3B???? Seriously???
Houser? No way, they need a top of the line, not bother 3,4,or 5. We have enough of them already!
No thanks
I would rather give up a top 10-15 prospect and another top-30 prospect and 2 wildcards for an established top of the rotation arm.
Any other ex-Brewers Counsell would like to reunite with?
We’re soon to see how committed Jed is to possibly winning it all this year as compared to just making playoffs!
They should send him to Toronto. Then expect Houser to really take off, eh? Houser the hoser