The Chicago Cubs made waves late last week with their reported interest in trading for former Houston Astros closer Ryan Pressly.
The deal, however, dragged on as Pressly pondered on whether he’d wave the full no trade clause in his contract to allow the deal to happen. The 36-year-old had been a wanted man by several teams, but he waved off other potential trades entirely.
Ryan Pressly’s Tough Decision
The veteran reliever, after all, has deep roots in Houston and a family that was, apparently, quite happy with the home they had built in the Houston-area community.
After a couple days of thinking things over and conferring with family, he decided to take his game to Chicago
Per Pressly, via The Marquee Sports Network:
“Playing for the Chicago Cubs, a pretty historic franchise, and then you get to go pitch in Wrigley is something that I have always wanted to do, even as a little kid, watching Rookie of the Year and stuff like that. You never think you’re going to be able to have a chance or an opportunity to do it and it came about…
It was tough to make this decision, probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made, but I think playing in Chicago has always kind of been a dream of mine and I’m excited to get out there and put on a Cubs uniform”
Joining the Chicago Cubs was an easy decision
There were some hints all along that Pressly would probably decide to come to Chicago. Notably, the fact that he named his dog “Wrigley.”
But it also made a boatload of career sense to wave his way to the Cubs.
Back in Houston, his closer gig had been given to free agent acquisition Josh Hader after a highly successful four-year run as the team’s shutdown closer.
Pressly moving to his new role as a setup man required some adjusting and it resulted in somewhat of a down year for Pressly, with 3.49 ERA in 59 games. It also may have resulted in some hurt feelings.
Hurt Feelings May Have Helped Deal Along
“He was not happy when they brought in Hader over him and you can understand where he’s coming from,” MLB analyst Ken Rosenthal recently commented on the Foul Territory show, just about a day before the Cubs-Astros trade was officially announced. “This guy’s had an amazing post-season record for them. He’s been tremendous. We know Josh Hader’s Josh Hader, but any player, I don’t need to tell you guys, there’s pride and his pride was wounded and, now, he can go back and be Ryan Pressly, back in the game, for the Cubs.”
The 12-year veteran will now step into the familiar closer role in Chicago, on a team with postseason aspirations. He’ll also be a free agent after this 2025 season, entering the open market looking for closer money rather than setup man money.
For the Cubs, this could turn out to be a brilliant one-year gamble on a proven winner and clutch playoff presence. And it only cost them A-ball pitching prospect Juan Bello and just $8.5 million of Pressly’s $14 million salary.
For now, this all seems like a win-win, with everyone happy how things turned out.
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