Reliever Hader gets $95 million, five-year contract from Astros
Hard-throwing reliever Josh Hader and the Houston Astros agreed to a $95 million, five-year contract on Friday, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.
Hader will get a $19 million salary in each of the next five seasons, none of it deferred. He gets a full notrade provision and would receive a $1 million bonus for winning the Mariano Rivera/ Trevor Hoffman Reliever of the Year Award.
Hader’s deal can be considered the most lucrative for a relief pitcher, even while falling short of the total dollars in Edwin Díaz’s $102 million, five-year contract with the New York Mets that began last year. Díaz’s deal includes $26.5 million in deferred payments he won’t completely receive until 2042 and was valued at $93.2 million for baseball’s luxury tax and $88.8 million by the players’ association.
A 29-year-old with long, flowing hair, Hader returns to the Astros organization after spending two years in their minor league system from mid-2013 through mid-2015. He figures to take over as closer and push Ryan Pressly back to a setup role in a bullpen that also includes Rafael Montero and Bryan Abreu.
Héctor Neris became a free agent and remains unsigned. Houston reached the agreement three days after announcing reliever Kendall Graveman will miss the season after right shoulder surgery.
Hader became a free agent for the first time last fall after turning down a $20,325,000 qualifying offer from San Diego, which acquired him in a deadline trade from Milwaukee in 2022. Hader made $14.1 million last year.
He was 2-3 with a 1.28 ERA and 33 saves in 38 chances for San Diego in 61 appearances last season, striking out 85 and walking 30 in 56 ⅓ innings.
OLDEST MASTER DIES
Jack Burke Jr., who was the oldest living Masters champion, died Friday morning in Houston. He was 100, just 10 days short of his next birthday.
“I went to see him last Friday and he did what he did best, giving me golf lessons and life lessons,” PGA champion Hal Sutton said. “He lived a productive life. This is a celebration of his life more than anything.”
Sutton said Burke’s wife, Robin, sent him a text message about his passing.
Burke was a Marine during World War II. His induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000 was as much about his influence on golf as the two majors he won in 1956. And he was renowned for his sharp wit that never left him.
Burke won the Masters and the PGA Championship in 1956 when he was the PGA player of the year. He was best known for staging the greatest comeback in Masters history when he overcame an eight-shot deficit in the final round to beat Ken Venturi.