The Cubs have reportedly found their closer for 2025. According to multiple reports, they are set to acquire Ryan Pressly from the Houston Astros. Pressly waived his no-trade clause for the deal, which is pending a medical review.
The full details of the trade are not yet known, but according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Astros are sending money to help cover Pressly’s salary for this season, though the exact amount is not yet known. Pressly had a vesting option for 2025 worth $14 million based on making at least 50 appearances in 2023 and 2024, and then he is set to be an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Pressly will have a new full no-trade clause with the Cubs and a new assignment bonus to cover the tax difference in going from Texas to Illinois. The implications of a continued no-trade clause for the Cubs are that it might impede trading him at the July deadline if that ends up being a path they want to try and pursue.
Pressly, 36, is an 11-year veteran who debuted in 2013 with the Minnesota Twins and went to the Astros via trade in 2018. He moved into a closing role with the Astros in 2020 and has 112 career saves. Last season, Pressly’s role shifted somewhat; he earned just four saves to 25 holds. He was reportedly willing to waive his no-trade clause to join the Cubs because of their willingness to name him the team’s closer.
The Cubs’ bullpen blew 26 games last season, and they went into the offseason with no obvious option to close games this year. Nine different pitchers saved at least one game for the Cubs in 2024, but only Porter Hodge emerged as a potential future option at closer. He had nine saves last season, six of which he notched in September. Hodge might still claim the role one day, but with just the one major league season under his belt, it might have been premature to write him in for the ninth inning in 2025.
The Cubs have already made a series of signings to shore up the pitching staff this winter, and having Pressly should help define roles for some of the other pitchers and take some pressure off of younger arms, like Hodge.
“It’s a puzzle right?” Counsell said at the Cubs Convention last weekend. “How that puzzle gets put together, you just want to make sure you have enough pieces […] We have young pitchers that maybe we’re not sure what we’re going to get.”
There might be some cause for hesitation about inserting Pressly as the Cubs’ closer this season, given that he only saved four games for the Astros last year. Most of his 112 career saves he earned between 2021-2023, but Counsell’s philosophy toward closers is that one season away from the role doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t step back into it.
“We’d like to add in that area,” he said last weekend. “Closing experience means you’re a good pitcher. It means you’ve earned that. A lot of times it points to you’ve pitched really well.”
Pressly was still good in 2024, owning a 3.49 ERA while still pitching a lot of high leverage innings for the Astros. And given how good he was the year before, there’s reason to be intrigued about what he could do for the Cubs bullpen this season:
And for a more detailed breakdown of the difference between 2023 and last year for Pressly, our Brendan Miller has a helpful tweet thread worth diving into:
In short, there was a slight velocity drop from ’23 to ’24, and some changes to Pressly’s release point on his four-seam fastball, but the Cubs are likely banking on the fact that his breaking pitches look essentially the same.
Until the medical review is complete, the full details of the trade will not be known, but early reports are that the Cubs are sending right handed pitching prospect Juan Bello to the Astros in the deal. Bello, 22, had a 3.21 ERA in 22 games for Class-A Myrtle Beach last season. Bello is not ranked in the Cubs’ top 30 prospects, and 2024 was his first year at a full season level; he pitched in the Cubs’ Dominican summer league and the Arizona Rookie League in the two years prior.
