The Milwaukee Brewers opted to trade left-hander Josh Hader several seasons ago, and he has now inadvertently hurt the Brewers’ chances of success in the National League Central.
To understand the situation, we’ll first have to look into the Houston Astros. In an attempt to clear up payroll to have a shot at retaining third baseman Alex Bregman, the club was able to trade away right-hander Ryan Pressly.
Taking a deeper dive into the trade, the 36-year-old allegedly grew frustrated with Houston which led to his departure.
“Clearing the majority of (Ryan) Pressly’s $14 million salary from the (Houston) Astros’ bloated payroll is still the trade’s primary impetus, but (Dana) Brown acknowledged that he and Pressly’s relationship ‘took a slightly different turn’ after the team signed Josh Hader to a five-year, $95 million contract last winter,” The Athletic’s Chandler Rome wrote Tuesday afternoon.
Pressly had a 3.49 ERA with a 58-to-18 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .264 batting average against and a 1.34 WHIP in 56 2/3 innings across 59 games last season.
Rome continued to mention that moving Pressly out of the closer role to make room for Hader is what sparked his problems with the club.
Jumping back to the NL Central, the righty agreed to be traded to the Chicago Cubs — who have made upgrades to their roster by adding names like outfielder Kyle Tucker, ex-Brewers right-hander Colin Rea and left-hander Drew Smyly to name a few.
Ultimately, the addition of Hader to the Astros’ bullpen led to a frustrated Pressly, which opened the door for a trade to the Cubs.
For Milwaukee, their division just got a bit tougher as their rival Cubs got a bit better.
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