Astros, Josh Hader agree to 5 year, $95 million contract

Great news!! This signing not only help us but also get him away from Rangers. I disagree with those that don’t like the contract. It wasn’t like we were gonna get him for 3 year, 45M. No chance. Even Metis asking for more than that. We’re guaranteed to have a closer for another 4 years after 2025. That’s huge!!

 

Will be awesome when Hader strikes out Ohtani in game 4 of the WS to complete an Astros sweep of the Dodgers

 

Yes, they weren’t being “cheap” by getting rid of him. They were trying to upgrade their MLB roster (Gomez was a slight upgrade, albeit not what they expected) by trading minor league talent. It was a miss (despite his 2015 WC game HR) and that trade and the JD Martinez waiving are two of Luhnow’s biggest admitted mistakes.

All that being said, the Astros have 2 world championships and 4 World Series appearances since that trade, and Milwaukee has one NLCS game 7.

 

I thought of Ohtani as soon as I heard about Hader.

 

But Ohtani will take 2 steps toward first then look back at the umpire after he makes the strike call when it got a full 3 inches of the plate

 

Hell yeah! Go Big Jim!

More to come...

 

Would be but the Dodgers won’t be there. Feels like they’ll continue to flame out well before the Workd Series.

 

Hader’s value will show in the playoffs. A shutdown closer makes a big difference in the post season. Great signing!

 

And Soto in the ALCS

 

what do you think that looks like? What are the effects of this signing? I’m guessing this means we are out on Bregman/Tucker, but maybe we were out to begin with…

I’ve gone back and forth…my thought process is the contract is bad but Hader is elite. We added a truly elite player in the FA market for the first time…ever? That is something to celebrate. If the Astros need to blow it up, so long as he is still good he (and our other pen arms) should fare well on the market. contenders *always* needs bullpen help and we own the store at this point. With the investments being made across baseball, Haders contract is a blip if it gives a team late game stability.

 

Well I may be in the minority but I don’t think it is that bad and I’ll explain why.

First, Hader has been very durable and his film and medicals were literally emasculate. It is expected that every pitcher in free agency will have some potential issues on their medicals - yet Josh had zero according to multiple teams. That bodes well for his durability and future going forward at 29 years old.

Second, I was told that Hader told Jim Crane that he WILL go beyond an inning for the Astros, especially in the playoffs.

Third, while Josh Hader has a no trade clause, the reality is that he won’t want to be on the Astros if the Astros want to trade him or the Astros are not competitive. It limits the market for trading Hader - but they can move him.

Fourth, let’s look at some of the contracts that leverage relievers with questionable or inconsistent track records are getting.

Jordan Hicks 4/44

Rey Lopez 3/30

Nick Martinez 2/26

Rafael Montero 3/35

Taylor Rogers 3/34

Raisel Iglesias 4/60

While these contracts are shorter and have a lower average salary - they aren’t THAT much less and they are far less valuable players.

5th, it maximizes this season and this group of Astros. It filled a need as well.

Also - the reality is that the Astros are likely to find someone from all the guys they have in the organization and signings, to be a very good reliever in 2024 - my guess is Coleman or maybe Garcia…. But without Hader, the Astros needed multiple guys to exceed expectations and that isn’t likely.

There is a real chance playoff games for the Astros will often be 5 innings… with 4 top pitchers in the pen. It also save wear on Pressly and Abreu and Verlander and Javier etc.

I think it was a very smart signing. I have a hard time thinking of one that would have been better this off season. Injuries can happen but that is bad luck.

Also - Crane kept him from Texas.

 

Not only do I like the move, but if it signals the owner going all in this might not be the last deal done.

I think he realizes that if he does nothing, and tries to stay "cost effective" it'll mean the end of their run and I think he wants to squeeze a few more years of championship contention before the inevitable retooling/rebuilding.

 

You will love it when he walks out there to finish playoff games.

It’s 19 million a year… basically what Abreu makes, and like 7-8 million more than Montero makes a year… 4-5 more than Uncle Mike…. Its not “no money” but it isn’t THAT much money.

 

This morning folks were saying Texas going to end up signing him. I think now Texas will move forward with Montgomery.

 

I’ll play the odds…. between Montero bouncing back, Coleman being healthy… Garcia coming back…. I think the Astros likely find an elite 4th reliever better than Neris will be in 2024.

Don’t sleep on Coleman if he is healthy. He was hitting 102 in the off season before he hurt his arm. He is expected back healthy and should have no issues throwing hard again.

 

I would be happy with Moore but I don’t think they need need them. They have a lot of talented arms that will need innings and Coleman will be in the pen and one of Garcia/McCullers.
I would rather they wait until the deadline or add a reserve bat.

 

Time to stretch Montero out as a starter again. Make him earn that money. Tandem with France or Beilak to take the stress off our TOR

 

That injects some ****ing life into this offseason. Great signing.

 

That is an interesting perspective comparing other RP deals. For example would you rather have Coleman and Hader, or Hicks and Iglesias? The money is about the same.

I don’t think it’s a significant overpay. And he is certainly a fit on Houston’s roster. I am glad he’s on the team. My main thought is that it’s great, but pitchers ALWAYS carry injury risk, but I’m happy as long as it doesn’t preclude them from doing the other things they need to do to keep winning after this season (extend Altuve, etc.).

One last thought, go look at how good Dellin Betances was. VERY similar to Hader in terms of how good he was. Then look at what he did after age 30.

 

Ok thought about making a separate thread for this but decided to drop it here.

I would like some clarification on Pressly's contract. On Spotrac it says that if Pressly has 50 appearances in both '23 + '24 he has a vesting option that kicks in for '25 at 14 mil. However it says mutual beside it.

Neris had a similar type vesting option that if the appearances clause was reached in '22 + '23 (for appearances) he could opt out of the last yr of his contract in '24 for 8.5 mil (which he reached and thus opted out making him a FA).

JV has a vesting option for '24. If he pitches 140 innings the vesting clause kicks in but in his case it just guarantees him 35 mil for '25 (he can't opt out like Neris to become a FA).

So can anyone clarify Pressly's vesting clause? He needs just 50 appearances in '23 + '24 (he had 65 last yr I believe) and should easily reach 50 for '24. If he reaches 50 appearances does this mean that Pressly can opt out like Neris and become a FA after this season or does it just automatically kick in the guarantee of 14 mil for '25?

Please no speculation. I would like to know specifically how this is written. If Pressly does indeed hold the decision of deciding what he wants to do after this season (after reaching the 50 appearances again) he could opt out after '24 and become a FA. If this is how it's written we could potentially be losing Pressly after this year and thus a big reason why Crane signed off on signing Hadar.