Dana Brown reveals Josh Hader signing led to ugly Astros-Ryan Pressly divorce

One of the more bizarre parts of this offseason for the Houston Astros was the the decision to move on from Ryan Pressly. Everyone knew the Astros were looking to trade him from the beginning of the offseason, but moving the reliever proved to be rather difficult after it became abundantly clear that Pressly wasn't going to waive his no-trade clause for just any move.

However, the part that was glossed over is how things got to this point. After being the Astros closer from 2021-2023, Houston's front office made the decision to sign Josh Hader in hopes that the duo could form a two-headed monster at the end of games. On paper, it made sense.

Players are human beings, however, and some wondered how well Pressly actually took the news of his demotion. We now have some answers after Astros General Manager Dana Brown revealed that his relationship with Pressly soured after the Hader signing and things were never really the same.

Astros GM Dana Brown reveals signing Josh Hader hurt Houston's relationship with ex-closer Ryan Pressly

This is a sad end to what was a great partnership between Pressly and the Astros. The front office saw an opportunity to add a monster of a reliever (in theory) and took the chance that there would be some hurt feelings. Ideally, Pressly and Hader would have happily formed the best bullpen tandem in baseball and that would be that.

However, one can understand why Pressly would feel some sort of way about this turn of events. We can talk about how the eighth and ninth inning are technically of similar importance and he "shouldn't" care which one he got. Closers just have more prestige than setup guys and if you don't believe me, take a look at how much closers receive in free agency versus even the best eighth inning guys. The Astros had Pressly and actively decided that he wasn't enough and warranted replacing. That can't feel good.

That is the risk such moves carry, unfortunately, and one wonders if Pressly would have been more amenable to a trade if he wasn't done dirty by Houston. It is over and done with now as the trade to send Pressly to the Cubs is now official, but it would have been nice if things had ended differently.

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