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Astros' urgency to move Ryan Pressly may be a clue to their offseason intentions

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Climbing Tal's Hill

Wild Card Series - Detroit Tigers v Houston Astros - Game 2 / Tim Warner/GettyImages

One constant this offseason for the Houston Astros has been that they are going to be looking to create some payroll room. While other, less desirable options have been floated, including trading Framber Valdez and Kyle Tucker, one popular money-saving scenario has involved moving Ryan Pressly.

For the Astros, sending Pressly to a relief-hungry team makes loads of sense. In addition to the fact that the back end of Houston's bullpen is pretty stacked with Josh Hader and Bryan Abreu, Pressly struggled in his new role as a setup guy in 2024 and he is making $14 million in 2025.

Over the weekend, it was revealed that the Astros are now pushing hard to move Pressly, and the reason for that is probably pretty simple.

Astros aggressively shopping Ryan Pressly around likely tied to Alex Bregman negotiations

There are some ideas out there that Houston could look to get an actual return, either in prospects or big league help, in exchange for Pressly. Depending on the names involved, there is merit to flipping Pressly for a short-term asset, as he likely has more value to a team in need of a closer. However, the Astros' real motivation to move Pressly is likely financial in nature.

As of this moment, Houston has a standing offer out to Alex Bregman in the neighborhood of six years and $156 million, which most agree isn't going to get it done. However, the current rumor out there is that the Astros want to increase their offer, which is where Pressly's money comes in. While pushing to Bregman's supposed demand of a $200+ million deal seems likely, the Astros could add at least another $10 million in guaranteed money to their existing offer if they could unload Pressly.

Finding a motivated taker for Pressly in a timely manner is going to be the trickier problem to solve. There are a number of high end free agent relievers currently on the market including Tanner Scott, Jeff Hoffman, and Kirby Yates, along with Devin Williams on the trade market. The Astros would probably have to accept a lesser return to get a deal done for Pressly quickly, given all the competition, but that could very well happen, especially if Houston feels like they need to get a better offer together soon to have any chance of keeping Bregman.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.