I've written a lot about how the '30 saves a season for more than five years' closer is practically a thing of the past, now that there are more professional relievers and more of an insistence on giving the RP1 the ninth rather than farming a closer over time. There's more mobility, more opportunities, and more of an immediate mentality of swapping out the closer if it's not working out, because each team has like 4 guys that can close games now. This season, the Phillies have seen Jordan Romano, Matt Strahm and now Orion Kerkering work the ninth at different points. The Yankees have given it to Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, Mark Leiter and Fernando Cruz. Therefore, Williams maybe won't be a 30-save guy for the next several years. You're even seeing Emmanuel Clase struggle in the ninth, which is why you build an award-winning bullpen of young guys.
Which is why it's so refreshing that the Astros actually value a permanent closer. They signed Josh Hader to a deal, and the expectation is he's gonna close for the rest of that contract. No 'you have to earn it' like Kirby Yates or Aroldis Chapman. No 'if it lines up' like Jeff Hoffman. Hader's automatically a closing option, because he's had 30 or more saves every full season since 2019. I remember 2018, when we figured Hader would be a career setup man due to Corey Knebel's ninth inning prowess, but Knebel petered out, Hader got the ninth and never looked back. At 31 he already has 217 saves, which is high for the modern era honestly, and is still very much in his peak period.
I think it's safe to say, with apologies to Emmanuel Clase as he builds back up again, that Hader might be the last traditional closer of this current era. Chapman, Kimbrel and Jansen are all on the way out, and there aren't many other guys who've racked up the accomplishments Hader has, so he's sort of in a class of his own. And already this season, with Pressly gone, it's really just been him vying for saves, and he's got 18 already with a 1.45 ERA. This will probably be Hader's strongest season in Houston, even if the rest of the team has its flaws.
Now, why has Hader succeeded while others have failed? I'm not sure. Because Hader did have a down year in 2022, upon arriving in San Diego, and immediately rebounded the following year. My guess is that teams are just so infatuated with Hader's upside, consistent dominance and high speeds, that they can take a down season or so, especially compared to rough multi-year stretches like Jansen, Chapman and Kimbrel all had. Even Edwin Diaz, the closest thing to Hader's level of perennial closer, has given the Mets several less-than-stellar seasons, and only seems to find success when everyone's counted him out. Hader, comparatively just goes on by and does his thing. It's kind of wild how rare that is nowadays, especially considering how many closers will overthrow and either strain or be out for a year.
I think Hader's also been lucky that he's almost always been on very good teams that have given him a handful of save situations. I think about Kimbrel in 2022 on the Dodgers, and how the team was so good at the plate that they barely needed a closer, or even a good closer. The Astros right now are very good, but they're not perfect, and try as they might they're not easily gonna fill those holes at 2nd, DH and RF. Hell, their big ploy at filling 1st, getting Christian Walker, has barely worked. Isaac Paredes, Hunter Brown and Cam Smith have been very good developments, and getting to 1st in the AL West is easy when your three fiercest competitors always plan the bit where they trip on their own shoelaces every year. But they will need Hader, because the games are gonna be close, and the competition is gonna try to sniff them out. So the Astros, like Hader, are very lucky, and they need to hope that Hader has a few more terrific years in him.
Coming Tomorrow- He came up as a utility infielder and now exists purely as an RBI machine.
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