The Houston Astros were rumored to be in on Josh Hader and now it looks like the reigning AL West champions have landed the reliever. Hader is reportedly set to sign with the Astros on a five-year, $95MM deal with Houston.
Related: 2024 MLB Power Rankings: Who are the best starting pitchers?
A Look at Hader
It’s not hard to argue that Josh Hader has been one of the game’s premier closers over the last three seasons. The new Astros left-hander has the second-most strikeouts (268) and third-most saves (103) in MLB since 2021.
When he’s clicking, it’s very hard to hit Hader, who now returns to the Houston organization after he was traded from the Astros in the Carlos Gomez deal almost nine years ago.
The left-hander throws in the upper 90s with his two-seamer that he likes to throw up and can be tough to pick up with his delivery and pitch movement. But the key to his arsenal is a plus slider that he used about 23% of the time last year.
Hader possesses good overall command of the pitch, doesn’t miss over the plate often, and it’s a pitch that he’ll often use on the backfoot against right-handed hitters.
If need be, Hader’s been known to break out a changeup, as well.
Last season with the Padres, Hader struck out 85 over 56.1 IP and posted a solid 1.10 WHIP. That came after a rough 2022 at times for the lefty, although he did rebound late to be a factor in the Padres’ run to the NLCS.
Now, there are negatives to Hader’s game. Aside from command problems that popped up with Hader in 2022, the left-hander is virtually limited to a pure one-inning role. Hader’s not gotten more than three outs in a regular season game since August 2020, and the new Astros has been open about his reluctance to go more than three outs.
That was somewhat of a talking point in 2023 during the Padres’ late playoff push but one reportedly made with health in mind.
Per ESPN, Josh Hader will receive a five-year, $95MM deal with the Astros. It’s not the richest deal for a reliever per se, as Edwin Diaz received a five-year, $102MM deal last winter. However, there’s no deferred money in Hader’s deal. That makes Hader’s deal the most valuable in MLB history based on present-day value.
Analysis
The Astros needed relief help this winter. Houston lost Ryne Stanek, Phil Maton, and Hector Neris to free agency and Stanek was relied upon in 2023 to get lefties out.
Houston did have Matt Gage and Parker Mushinski as left-handed options. But, the addition of Hader changes the game.
The five-time All-Star has wipeout stuff to get both lefties and righties out and the addition of the former Astros prospect gives Houston a formidable late-inning trio. The Astros already had Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly.
It would, however, seem very likely that Houston will install Hader to be their closer for 2024. Pressly’s been one of the better closers in the league over the past few seasons and it is possible that he could still get saves should Hader be called upon to pitch the seventh or eighth.
Still, very few in the game have the stuff that Hader possesses.