-
Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
All-Star closer Josh Hader agreed to terms on a five-year, $95 million contract with the Houston Astros on Friday, significantly bolstering a team that has made seven consecutive appearances in the American League Championship Series, a source told ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The deal includes no deferrals, making it the largest ever for a relief pitcher in terms of present-day value. Edwin Diaz signed a five-year, $102 million deal with the New York Mets last offseason, but $26.5 million of it was deferred.
The Astros’ pickup of Hader comes on the heels of news that Kendall Graveman, one of the team’s principal high-leverage relievers would miss the entire 2024 season after undergoing shoulder surgery. Hader’s presence in all likelihood means that Ryan Pressly, who accumulated 90 saves over the last three years, will become the team’s eighth-inning reliever.
Hader made an All-Star team in each of his five full seasons in the major leagues and has established himself as arguably the game’s best closer — with an MLB-best 153 saves since 2019.
His 437 strikeouts in that five-year stretch are 59 more than the next-closest reliever.
Hader, 29, has done that while fashioning a 2.60 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. His devastating sinker-slider combination, thrown from a wiry frame that helps to maximize his deception from the left side, has netted him a career 15.0 strikeout-per-nine rate, the highest in history among those who accumulated at least 50 innings.
He anchored bullpens for Milwaukee Brewers teams that consistently overachieved before he joined the San Diego Padres as part of a midseason trade in the summer of 2022. The deal saw the Brewers acquire Esteury Ruiz, who was later used as part of another trade to acquire standout catcher William Contreras, but parting with Hader amid another playoff run became a controversial subject within the Brewers’ clubhouse.
Hader helped the Padres reach the National League Championship Series later that fall, then had another standout season for a star-laden Padres team that grossly underachieved in 2023, posting a 1.28 ERA with 85 strikeouts and 30 walks in 56⅓ innings. He converted 33 of his 38 save chances.
Hader distinguished himself early on, not just for his electric stuff but also for his ability to pitch multiple innings late in games. In recent years, however, that hasn’t been the case; Hader has recorded more than three outs in a regular-season outing only once since 2019 and has generally been reluctant to do so, pointing to the danger of pitchers overextending themselves amid a long season.