As if their bullpen wasn’t already strong enough, the Yankees are showing interest in Brewers’ left-handed relief ace, Josh Hader.
According to Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic, the Yankees “have been the most active pursuer” of Josh Hader. This should be no surprise because the Yankees are seemingly always looking to add to their already dominant bullpen.
Don’t let last year’s National League wild card game fool you, in his career, Hader has been nothing short of stellar out of the bullpen. Hader has thrown 204.2 innings out of relief with a 2.42 ERA and an absurd 44.6% strikeout rate. He has also thrown over 75 innings each of the last two seasons. Hader could be a perfect fit in the Yankees bullpen and provide them with another dominant strikeout machine.
The main aspect of Hader that likely entices the Yankees the most is that he is only 26 years old and still has four years of team control left under arbitration. We all know how much the Yankees like handling players who have team control so they don’t have to throw a massive contract at them. If aquired, he would join Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman to become the third left-handed stud in the Yankees bullpen.
It should be noted that a trade for Hader would seem very unlikely and would take a lot for the Brewers to part with the left-hander, the Yankees would have to offer them a package that really blows them away. They are not actively shopping him, but they are listening to offers that come their way.
So, take this reported “interest” with a grain of salt, the Yankees are likely just doing their due diligence and checking in on every offseason target on the trade block.