Lesson learned, stop getting aging relief pitchers from the Houston Astros. Last year Hector Neris derailed the back-end of the bullpen and now in 2025 Ryan Pressly is proving to be Jed Hoyer's biggest offseason mistake.
The 36-year-old veteran waived his no-trade clause last winter and ultimately relented, leaving his home in Texas to begin a new journey in Chicago. Pressly didn't publicly demand the closer role with the Cubs, but if you read between the lines after his acquisition there was an understanding that the right-hander would be given the role to start the season.
Although the Astros demoted Pressly from his closer spot heading into the 2024 season after they signed Josh Hader, Pressly wasn't too far removed from being nails in the postseason. His four-year run as the ninth-inning man in Houston was capped off by some incredible work in October.
Well, motivated or not, Pressly just doesn't have it anymore.
He began the season by recording a 2.08 ERA in his first 13 games. However, that number was extremely deceitful as Pressly was giving up hard contact, barely striking anyone out and overall not fooling hitters with his pitching arsenal.
Then, Pressly entered in the 10th inning on May 6, against the San Francisco Giants.
He didn't get away with his subpar stuff then and was pushed down the depth chart in the Cubs bullpen following his record-setting appearance.
The veteran did rebound during the next month, stringing together 15 straight scoreless innings. He struck out 14 batters and walked three in 15 innings of work, while his ground ball rate increased above 50%. Still, outside of a couple strong appearances, Pressly just wasn't convincing on the mound.
And well we're back to Pressly not getting away with his mistakes again. In his last 14 games the righty has given up 14 hits, nine earned runs, while only striking out nine and walking six. However, the biggest red flag is that Pressly has now given up five home runs in the 13.1 innings.
Pressly now has a 4.35 ERA this season. His strikeout rate, which was already a concern because it had dropped significantly during the past few years, has gone down to 15.4%. That's ninth worst among 169 qualified relievers through July 29.
It's time to cut bait on Pressly. The bullpen is regressing hard during the month of July and while getting rid of Chris Flexen was a good first step, Hoyer has to admit his mistake and move on from Pressly as well before he continues to hurt the Cubs even more down the stretch.
