The Astros are making sudden waves in the reliever market. And if they make a splash with Josh Hader, that would completely change the outlook of their 2024 bullpen.
The Astros already are set to lose a handful of arms this winter. Hector Neris, Ryne Stanek and Phil Maton are all free agents who, despite remaining unsigned, at this point seem unlikely to return. That leaves quite a few innings up for grabs – the aforementioned trio combined for 185 innings last season – especially with Kendall Graveman out for next season.
To address that problem, it looks as though the Astros are turning their attention to the top reliever on the market, Hader, according to The Athletic.
Ron Hughley said Thursday on The Drive with Stoerner and Hughley that adding Hader would give Houston the best bullpen in the game.
“Josh Hader is big time, he’s one of the hardest pitchers to pick up, a lefty that has everything going everywhere when he throws, and he throws that gasoline,” Hughley said. “And I’ll tell you right now, he would move Ryan Pressly out of the closer role. We’ve watched the Astros lose a bunch of guys – Hector Neris and now (Graveman) – we’ve seen them lose 200-plus innings from the bullpen last year, and they need to add that.
“If you can run out there with Josh Hader, Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly in whatever order – and I would have Josh Hader as the closer – that is the best bullpen in baseball. Hell, you can have some fun and try to figure out some things like Ronel (Blanco) around him or whoever else around him, (Rafael) Montero could maybe give you some innings. That threesome is something else.”
The obvious question in all of this is how far are the Astros willing to go to sign a reliever. The bar for elite relievers has been set high thanks to Edwin Diaz' five-year, $102 million deal with the Mets. Hader all but certainly is looking for something in that neighborhood, with MLB Trade Rumors predicting his deal at six years, $110 million.