Report: Yankees most active pursuer of Brewers' Hader
The New York Yankees already possess one of baseball's best bullpens and appear interested in making it even stronger.
New York is actively pursuing Milwaukee Brewers closer Josh Hader, reports The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets are two other clubs that have inquired about Hader, Rosenthal adds.
Milwaukee wants a lot in return for the two-time All-Star, who has won the Trevor Hoffman award in back-to-back seasons as the top reliever in the National League, so a deal with any team remains unlikely.
Although the Yankees are fresh off spending $324 million to acquire starting pitcher Gerrit Cole and reportedly re-signed outfielder Brett Gardner on Thursday, they possess the prospect capital to add Hader.
Yankees prospects Deivi Garcia, Jasson Dominguez, and Estevan Florial are all among MLB Pipeline's top 100.
In three seasons of big-league ball, Hader owns a 2.42 ERA and 0.85 WHIP with 49 saves and a 15.3 K/9 rate. He was the third-most valuable reliever in baseball last season by FanGraphs WAR.
He'd make a great addition to a Yankees bullpen that already has Aroldis Chapman, Zack Britton, Adam Ottavino, Chad Green, and Tommy Kahnle.
New York's 'pen ranked second in WAR last season, according to FanGraphs, but were ninth in MLB in ERA (4.08) and FIP (4.15).