The Astros will miss having Hector Neris in their bullpen
We return to the bullpen, which lost a lot of really valuable arms to the allure of free agency. Houston returns Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly, which is a big deal -- and, again, Houston did go out and sign the best reliever on the market in Hader. However, losing Hector Neris from that seventh inning role is still a tough pill to swallow.
Ultimately, this one isn't on the Astros, as Neris is the one that opted out of $8.5 million only to be forced to take $9 million from the Cubs for 2024. However, he is a guy that gave the Astros 70 or more appearances for two straight seasons and struck out 10-11 batters per nine innings. He isn't as good as his ERA from 2023 indicated and probably not worth on the open market what he was hoping for, but Houston will definitely wish he was still around, even with Pressly and Abreu getting pushed to early portions of games.