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By the time the Houston Astros traded Ryan Pressly this past offseason, things had already become a little messy. The addition of Josh Hader last winter made the Astros' bullpen stronger, but it also cost Pressly his primary role as the team's closer. Pressly's feelings were hurt and his relationship with the front office was certainly damaged.
Over the course of the season, it began to feel like Pressly wasn't thrilled with his new role. It also didn't help that his performance continued to trend in the wrong direction. Pressly was owed a good chunk of money in 2025, and trading him felt like the right decision.
However, the Astros and their fans may be feeling a bit better about letting Pressly go after watching his first appearance with the Chicago Cubs. While he did pitch a scoreless frame, it wasn't for lack of trying. Pressly walked the bases loaded before getting bailed out of the inning courtesy of a ground ball double play.
Ryan Pressly's adventure in first Cubs appearance already shows why Astros traded him
It's just one game, and one shouldn't draw too many conclusions, especially factoring into the equation the fact that Pressly has generally been able to limit walks throughout his career. To his credit, Pressly's four spring training appearances have gone pretty well with a 2.45 ERA and four strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work. That said, walking the bases loaded only to need an inning-ending double play to escape unscathed is not exactly where you want to be.
One of the biggest sticking points for the Astros before Pressly's departure was that had been good, but not great. With Pressly's age (36) and the payroll constraints the team was under after signing Christian Walker, moving a pitcher who is a bit superfluous and set to make $8.5 million this season makes a lot of sense.
One does hope that Pressly finds success in Chicago. After all, he loved playing for the Astros. Baseball can be a cruel business sometimes, but this situation is feeling more and more like Houston made a very understandable choice and remove some risk from their ledger while putting Pressly in a position where he can still thrive.