Houston Astros Sign Josh Hader to Five-year, $95 Million Deal

With the acquisition of one of the best closers in the game to a massive contract, the Houston Astros have made their first major splash of the offseason. Josh Hader is heading to the Lone Star State to throw for the Astros after finishing the season with a brilliant 1.28 ERA in 56 1/3 innings with the San Diego Padres.

Hader, 29, aimed to surpass Edwin Diaz’s five-year, $102 million deal signed last winter in order to become the most paid reliever in MLB history this offseason. Though Hader’s contract isn’t worth more than Diaz’s in total, it is worth more in present money.

As Shohei Ohtani taught us all this offseason, deferrals bring down the present money value of a contract, making it less of a hit to team’s luxury tax payroll.

In Diaz’s case, the Mets deferred $26.5 million over 10 years, bringing the present money value of the contract down from $102 million, to around $93 million. With that in mind, Hader’s contract is technically the richest ever for a relief pitcher, as there are no deferrals involved in the $95 million deal.

Back to the Houston Astros

Having had a brief appearance in the Houston Astros organization in 2013, Hader will be joining the team for the second time. Hader was originally selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 19th round of the 2012 MLB trade deadline. He was then moved to Houston in exchange for Bud Norris.

A few trade deadlines later, Hader was one of four prospects traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in a deal that sent Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers to the Astros in 2015. Now here we are nearly a full decade later and Hader joins the Astros as one of the game’s most accomplished closers.

Hader spent the first six seasons of his MLB career with the Brewers, before being traded for a third time at the 2022 deadline. He then spent the last year and a half with the Padres. Put it altogether, Hader has pitched for seven seasons and has a career 2.50 ERA.