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After being unable to make the World Series for a third-straight year, the Houston Astros are making big splashes to run the American League again.
Already with a stout bullpen, Houston will reportedly sign All-Star closer Josh Hader to a five-year, $95 million deal.
Hader's money is the most ever given to a reliever without deferrals. The New York Mets signed Edwin Diaz to a $102 million deal, the most total money for a reliever, but he deferred around $9 million of it until after the deal.
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Josh Hader, #71 of the San Diego Padres, pitches in the ninth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on September 29, 2023, in Chicago, Illinois. (Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
The left-handed flamethrower has been maybe the most dominant relief pitcher in the game since he joined the majors, and a deep dive shows that he's one of the most dominant of all time.
Hader has been named to five-straight MLB All-Star Games. (There was not a midsummer classic in 2020.) He debuted in 2017 with the Milwaukee Brewers and immediately showed what he could do, pitching to a 2.08 ERA while striking out 68 batters in 47.2 innings.
In his career, he owns a 15.0 K/9 (648 strikeouts in 388.2 innings) and a 2.50 ERA. His strikeout numbers are both the best among all relievers since 2017.
Josh Hader, #71 of the San Diego Padres, reacts after defeating the Colorado Rockies 3-2 in a game at PETCO Park on September 20, 2023 in San Diego, California.
In fact, Hader is the only pitcher in the history of baseball who has appeared in 300-plus games and struck out 15 batters per nine innings.
He pitched to a 1.28 ERA this past season, which is insane for a reliever, as their ERAs can easily be inflated with just a couple of bad appearances.
That didn't happen with Hader, though. Out of his 61 games with the San Diego Padres, he allowed just one earned run four times, and two earned runs twice. He did not allow any earned runs in any of the other 55 appearances.
Houston is already equipped with Ryan Pressly, who has a 2.67 ERA and 11.5 K/9 since joining the Astros in 2018. Despite his 107 saves with Houston, it's hard to imagine Hader not overtaking Pressly in that spot.
San Diego Padres Pitcher Josh Hader (71) reacts during the MLB baseball regular season game between the San Diego Padres and the Toronto Blue Jays on July 19, 2023, at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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Last season, Astros relievers, highlighted by Pressly, Bryan Abreu, and Hector Neris, combined for a 3.56 ERA, the sixth-lowest in baseball. Their 10.0 K/9 was the best mark in the big leagues.
The Astros fell to the eventual World Series winners, the Texas Rangers, in a seven-game American League Championship Series, despite winning the AL West.
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