Yankees and Dodgers Tried to Sign Superstar Ahead of Astros
The Houston Astros were not the only team in on superstar Josh Hader.
But of course they weren't, one would be silly to think that the Astros were the All-Star's only potential destination.
But, now that Hader is locked in with Houston for five year and $95 million, reporters are digging up the timeline as part of the post-mortem of Hader's deal.
What's unusual is that Hader is talking about some of the teams that lined up to pay him this offseason.
During an appearance on Foul Territory, Hader named at least two of them and they are not surprising teams — the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
There were other teams interested, Hader said, but he told the show's hosts that no team matched the "aggressiveness" of the Astros, who ultimately got a deal done.
The Dodgers, of course, spent more than $1 billion on free agents, most notably two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani and starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. What would another $100 million been to the Dodgers to lock down their bullpen? It's not entirely clear who the Dodgers' closer will be.
As for the Yankees, they have a closer on the roster in Clay Holmes. But after their pursuit of Ohtani and Yamamoto went dry, they sought starting pitching help in Marcus Stroman and swung deals to bolster the outfield with Juan Soto, Alex Verdugo and Trent Grisham.
Bullpen — at least not a high-end closer — didn't seem to be either team's priority.
It didn't look that way for the Astros until a few weeks ago. It appears the Astros were patiently aggressive and got their closer.
