The Astros have reportedly signed Josh Hader to a five-year, $95 million deal, locking up the best reliever on the free agent market and one of the best closers in baseball.
Was it an overpay? Evan says the argument can be made that it was, but for a team like the Yankees that is going all in to get back to the playoffs and end a 15-year title drought, that shouldn’t have mattered.
“Is he worth $19 million a year? Do you want to give a closer five years? I get the risks involved,” Evan said. “But you’re trying to win a championship. The Yankees are trying to win a world championship…I looked at it as, if I am going all in right now, which I am, and I just made that big offer to Blake Snell, so I clearly have the money to spend…I’m going for it.”
Suzyn Waldman joined the show on Thursday and said the Yankees didn’t need Hader, noting the team’s top-notch bullpen last season, and Brian Cashman’s indisputable ability to build strong bullpens on a yearly basis. But Evan said a team coming off its worst season in 30 years, with Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole in their prime, and with Juan Soto in the fold in his final season before free agency, it was time for the Yanks to get a little irresponsible, and this was a missed opportunity.
“I disagree,” Evan said of Suzyn’s argument. “Despite having the best ERA in the American League last year, I would ask ‘who was a part of that bullpen?’ a few guys who aren’t here anymore. Michael King isn’t here anymore.
Wandy Peralta could be, but he’s a free agent right now.
“You had a chance to go out and add one of the best closers in baseball and add it to this bullpen, and go from a team in the mix to maybe THE team in the American League…Josh Hader would have been the perfect guy to add.”