Not just the Houston Astros were interested in Josh Hader, the superstar.
It would be naive to believe that the Astros were the All-Star’s sole possible team, but of course they weren’t.
However, as part of their analysis of Hader’s contract, reporters are examining the timing now that he has committed to Houston for a five-year, $95 million agreement.
The fact that Hader is discussing a few of the organizations that have committed to paying him this offseason makes this unusual.
Hader mentioned at least two of them during an appearance on Foul Territory, and the teams he mentioned are the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, which is not surprising.
Hader informed the hosts of the show that while other teams were interested, none of them equaled the Astros’ “aggressiveness,” which finally resulted in a deal.
Naturally, the Dodgers invested over $1 billion in free agents, acquiring Yoshinobu Yamamoto, their starting pitcher, and two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani. How much more money would the Dodgers need to secure their bullpen? The identity of the Dodgers’ closer is still a mystery.
Regarding the Yankees, Clay Holmes is a closer for them. However, after pursuing neither Ohtani nor Yamamoto, they turned to Marcus Stroman for starting pitching support and made trades to add Juan Soto, Alex Verdugo, and Trent Grisham to strengthen the outfield.
Neither team seems to have a high-end closing in the bullpen as a priority.
A few weeks ago, it didn’t appear that way for the Astros. The Astros seem to have moved closer by being aggressive and patient.
