Cubs Could Be Targeting White Sox Ace Adrian Houser at MLB Trade Deadline

The Chicago Cubs need starting pitching, of that there is no secret. But they may have ended up scouting a target on Friday night on the south side of town.

Adrian Houser made his final start for the Chicago White Sox before the MLB trade deadline next Thursday. He did it against the Cubs and he looked like an ace, as he went 6.2 innings. He gave up five hits and three earned runs but threw shutout baseball for the first six innings. He struck out three and walked three.

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The right-hander is now 6-2 with a 2.10 ERA in 11 starts after joining the White Sox in May.  He hasn’t been this effective since 2021, when he went 10-6 with a 3.22 ERA with Milwaukee.

That appears to have piqued the Cubs’ interest. Per Patrick Mooney of The Athletic (subscription required), the Cubs “have a lot of background information on Houser” as the deadline approaches.

Houser was with the Cubs briefly last year on a minor league deal after he was released by the New York Mets.

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Mooney pointed out two things that could work in the Cubs’ favor. First, Houser is exceedingly cheap, in terms of money. He signed a $1.35 million deal with the White Sox, so the Cubs would be assuming less than $1 million in salary. Plus, he’s a free agent after the season.

Second, Cubs manager Craig Counsell used to be Houser’s boss when the pair were in Milwaukee. Counsell told Mooney and other reporters that he has been asked about Houser by Cubs leadership.

“Yeah,” Counsell said, “we talked about a lot of players. Yes. Yes.”

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He is a sell-high player for the White Sox, much in the way that Garrett Crochet and Eric Fedde have been the past couple of years.

It’s been a wild season for the former Brewers starter. He began the year as a non-roster invitee with the Texas Rangers in spring training. He failed to make the opening day roster but accepted an assignment to Triple-A Round Rock.

He was granted his release on May 15 and signed with the White Sox five days later. He immediately joined the starting rotation and has been Chicago’s most effective starter since.

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Houser, a former second-round pick of the Houston Astros, will be a free agent after the season. He made his Major League debut in 2015 with the Milwaukee Brewers. He’s been relatively durable and played for the Brewers through 2023, where he went 31-34 with a 4.00 ERA.

After that, he was traded to the New York Mets for the 2024 season, where he struggled and was eventually released after going 1-5 with a 5.84 ERA.

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