The Houston Astros have an intriguing offseason ahead of them as they exited before the ALCS for the first time since before the 2017 season, and with Alex Bregman a free agent and the team’s payroll somewhat close to the luxury tax threshold, they are considering trading veteran reliever Ryan Pressly, according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic.
“The Astros have had internal discussions about trading setup man Ryan Pressly, according to two people briefed on the conversations, perhaps a signal that Brown is exploring avenues to get further away from the luxury tax,” Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports. “Most outside approximations put the Astros around $10 million below the first threshold when accounting for their projected arbitration salaries.”
Pressly’s salary for 2025 is set at $14 million, so offloading that could help the Astros either retain Bregman, or go after other pieces in the offseason. Pressly was moved to setup man after the team signed Josh Hader to be the closer last offseason. The aspect that complicates this is that Pressly has a full no-trade clause, according to Rome. So Pressly will have to approve of the landing spot.
How will Astros manage potential payroll constraints?
Despite the rumors surrounding Pressly, general manager Dana Brown said the team is still looking to compete, and will not weaken the team in a deal that sends away major league pieces.
“If we can use a major-league piece to get two pieces that will help us solve problems, I would welcome that if that deal shows up,” Brown said, via Rome. “But I don’t want to trade major-league pieces and weaken the team. It has to make sense for the team and it has to feel like we’re getting better.”
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It will be a tough balancing act for the Astros. Trading Pressly makes sense financially, especially if the team can bring in some other major league talent to strengthen the roster and considering that Hader has assumed the closer role. That might be tough, however. As mentioned before, Pressly controls where he goes due to the no-trade clause, so that could limit the market for him in a trade.
Retaining Pressly while retaining Bregman seems unrealistic at this point, unless salary is unloaded from elsewhere on the roster. The team will still undoubtedly do its best to try to retain the franchise staple and remain competitive heading into 2025. It will be interesting to see what moves Brown has up his sleeve this offseason.