As the Chicago Cubs are coming into their true contention window, could they look to shore up the back end of the ‘pen with one of the best in the game, Josh Hader?
The off-season and rumor mill is now well in swing and over the last few days, there have been some interesting rumblings when it comes to the Chicago Cubs and adding a possible All-Star closer. MLB.Com’s Mark Feinsand wrote an article about the possible landing spots for former Padre and Brewer closer, Josh Hader. In his piece he would mention the Cubs as a possible landing spot. Here’s what he had to say:
New Cubs manager Craig Counsell is quite familiar with Hader, having managed him in Milwaukee from 2017-22. Chicago got a solid performance from Adbert Alzolay last season — he saved 22 games with a 2.67 ERA in 58 appearances — but adding Hader would further strengthen Chicago’s ’pen. Hader has enjoyed great success at Wrigley Field, throwing 20 scoreless innings there during his career.
This wasn’t the first time the Hader and Chicago Cubs have been linked this off-season. Last week, Jon Morosi, talked about the possible fit as well during a segment on MLB Network. So is there real talk in the industry, or is it just making a logical connection between two sides who theoretically would make sense together? It’s hard to say.
As for the fit, it does make a lot of sense. Hader, a 5-time All-Star, has long been one of the best relievers in the game. Adding him to a bullpen with Adbert Alzolay and Julian Merryweather already in the backend would lengthen it significantly. Not only that, he and new manager, Craig Counsell, worked together in the past. The fact that this isn’t the first time a former player of Counsell’s has been mentioned as a possible Chicago Cubs addition leads one to believe he must earn some sort of respect or admiration from his guys.
The 3-time NL Reliever of the year won’t come cheap as he is the cream of the crop for the position. Dropping a big contract on a top tier reliever isn’t exactly something the Chicago Cubs do very often, but this might just be the guy and the time to do it. A guy the manager knows how to use and work with just as the team is looking to truly contend. This will be interesting to track in the coming days and weeks.
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