August 1: As expected, Pressly has been released, per the MLB.com transaction log.
July 31: The Cubs have designated right-hander Ryan Pressly for assignment, according to The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney. The move opens up roster space for newly-acquired reliever Taylor Rogers.
Pressly has well over 11 years of MLB service time, so he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent. In all likelihood, the DFA will end with the Cubs just releasing the veteran reliever, as he still has roughly $4.5MM in salary owed to him over the remainder of the season. The Astros are covering $5.5MM of Pressly’s $14MM total 2025 salary, but the bottom line is that any interested new team can sign Pressly to a contract after he is released, and then just owe him a prorated Major League minimum salary while the Cubs or Astros cover the rest of the $4.5MM.
When Chicago acquired Pressly from Houston in January, the thinking was that Pressly would be the favorite for save situations in the Cubs bullpen. Unfortunately, Pressly’s run as closer was run short by mid-May, with Daniel Palencia eventually emerging as the top choice in ninth-inning situations.
Pressly’s 15.4% strikeout rate was his lowest since 2014, as the K% continued its sharp decline from the righty’s 35.7% career best in 2022. His 9.3% walk rate was also Pressly’s worst since the 2015 season, and he was near the bottom of the league in hard-contact rate. The result was a 4.35 ERA over 41 1/3 innings, and while that ERA was inflated by some rough numbers after the All-Star break, the advanced metrics indicated that Pressly’s bottom-line numbers were due for regression.
As a 13-year veteran and two-time former All-Star, Pressly’s resume will get him plenty of looks once he presumably clears waivers and is released. A return to Houston wouldn’t be out of the question, with the idea that a return to his old stomping grounds could spark a bounce-back. Any number of other contenders might be willing to take a virtually no-cost flier on Pressly now that the deadline has passed and a few clubs are still in need of bullpen help.
Back to the Astros
Good riddance.
Bye Felicia
Big difference between the two
Pressly threw batting practice all year.
pressly was so awful for the entire cubs tenure, we need a real prime age top end closer, we have needed that since Wade Davis was enlisted in WW1, tired of constant 40 year olds as our closer
@joparx
Please try not to comment if you don’t follow baseball. I can only assume you never heard of Palencia? Especially don’t use words like ‘we’ and ‘our’.
I thank you in advance.
With that ERA he will be an immediate reinforcement for the bullpen in Arizona. We need many arms now that Kelly is gone.
Check his stats over the past 5 games.
Some relief needy team will be claiming him.
Yankees with another reliever?
Detroit….. Another old guy might be available
next big Angels moving coming up
@top. Could see it happening. Not sure how he is this year, but he had alot movement on his pitches and it was nasty 4-5 years ago
He isn’t worth the phone call.
He might be decent for dispensing fatherly advice when it comes to the dating pool or keeping a marriage intact. I would take his number for that.
Pressly has just left the building
Presley was a good performer, on stage he was electrifying
Specially the fat one w sideburns
The fat one w sideburns who kissed with lips of fire…
Wonder if Pressly learned of his demise while on the can
To the White Sox now!
No seriously, it wouldn’t hurt and it would be league minimum.
Wait Elvis night, one of the most popular traditiond is coming up soon again in August. Cmon Sox do it! Parachute him in with the flying Elvises to take the mound.
Ya the sux are infatuated with collecting cubs garbage.
Mikey Soroka says hi
Probably shot his TV in anger..
Guys most importantly, was his DFA written on a napkin? Very important detail!
What does that mean
When your chicken tenders go bad and you’ve got make a run: Love Me Tender no mo
@bootsday29 Elvis references
Bootsday: “who’s Elvis?”
Elvus Andrus
Get him, Dipoto!
You definitely do not want him ruining the good vibes you have going after a strong deadline. He’s been shelled every appearance the past 3 weeks and just doesn’t have it anymore.
Good point. I hope he does his best.
How about a homecoming? I hear the Twins have some open roster spots.
So a #1 draft pick that’s really good for a 1yr rental and a bad reliever and Theo’s coffee boy gets an extension. Poop team
Keep getting aggravated by the success 108!
Have they won anything in the last 10 yrs? No. Poop team
The World Series, 9 years ago.
This organization isn’t that far removed from the Wisdom-Bote era-and people cheered. Poop team
So when Jed took over he was asked to start all over…got rid of Bryant, Rizzo, Contreras, Baez, Schwarber…was left with Bote and Wisdom.
In just a few short years he’s turned that poop team into one of the best in baseball and one strong farm system.
And….he did this all with the ability to keep hanley in his basement behind his keyboard.
It is a distant second but it is pretty dang fun watching you trolls squirm and have something to do on a daily basis.
Yes, WS 2016
Still a poop team, 9,10 whatevs. I’ll talk for 118 yrs til the next WS.
What have they won?The best teams play 162 games a year, not prognosticating a win in July.
Sorry White Sox fan. Poor guy. Buy some Unicorn Fart Dust $UFD. It will help your happiness
Nope, been a Cub fan since ‘67, fan how you want. I like good baseball.
That’s correct Hanley!
We haven’t had that spirit here since 1969.
Hanley
Sorry Mother Tucker
He should be able to get work with the Twins. Their bullpen is empty.
Worst case – he’ll be the starting ace for the Padres’ AAA and AA team.
Braves opener, they’ve acquired every DFA’d pitcher the past week.
The current Braves-Reds game is wild.
Astros or Twins on line 1.
Why? The Twins can’t trade him..
Does Korea have a team named Twins or Astros?
She didn’t have the stuff to miss bats anymore.
Addition by subtraction. No hard feelings, but he was definitely the weakest link.
Well, then enjoy Rogers being your new weakest link. Dude gave up so many inherited runners this year. His stats don’t jump off the page, and still they are way better than his performance.
So bring him in the start the inning?
Yeah, Taylor was awful. After watching him this year, the Reds will be salivating if the Cubs bring him into a game to face them.
Scott harris?
The game will tell you when its time to hang em up. Opportunity was there ,but didn’t look right pitching.
Down year for Pressly but he’ll find work fairly quickly i imagine
Sweeping up popcorn after games
How much money did he make playing baseball?
Another year, another nothing-burger at the trade deadline by the Chicago Cubs. The organization is lucky most Cubs fans are extra-special. And informed fanbase that cares about winning would be livid that this front office made zero impact moves, preferring marginal player to add to their collection. This team will crash and burn, Tucker will walk, and another opportunity wasted. Good grief, the Chicago sports fan is screwed.
Your post is fair and nice to fans, but I actually like having traded Cam Smith but keeping all of the other top prospects. They kept their future bright and the replacements for Tucker. They should make the playoffs and once you are there who knows.
They didn’t do nothing. They made moves. Improved the team. They just didn’t get the one thing they’ve need for the last 2 months. A top starter
You’re a White Sox, what does it matter to you?
And really the only starters traded besides Soroka were Houser (Cubs were involved but Sox chose Rays deal), Morton and Miller – sounds like they were involved on Miller as well but AZ preferred Rangers deal, which is strange b/c they got a bunch of older pitching prospects that need to go on the 40man this offseason and none seem to be sure bets beyond relievers. They added depth somewhat on the margins, but Castro is a good get and CC will do well deploying him and getting Dansby, Nico occasional days off while potentially platooning with Shaw. If Soroka pitches more to his advanced metrics the deadline will look a lot better.
Kelly and Keller were two names with Cubs rumors. Keller stayed out and Kelly went elsewhere.
Cubs have needed a top starter since 2017. Knock on wood they finally got a closer.
He fought the move back then and hasn’t stopped.
Yo! Mr. Crane, Ryan Pressly…???
Wedding Crashers champagne celebration gif here.
About damn time
Seems hasty
Apparently CUBs trust all their other RPs more than Ryan. Experience in offseason can be valuable just limit his IP
I am not sure he had a clean inning all year. Absolutely atrocious. Every inning was an adventure
Thought I was having Deja Vu all year and watching Neris last year.
He’ll be a Phillie bc they like old guys.
Angels. Then release Garcia (who you just traded for).
As my Dad told me when he threw me out at 17, Don’t let the door hit you in the ___ on the way out.
Aloha uncle, if Jed was such the great negotiator I wonder why he didn’t say to Houston, Pressly and his entire salary plus tucker for paredes, Wesneski and say Triantos. Instead 2 separate trades and smith gone. Have to say I was worried that he was going to trade the farm away for a bunch of rentals or all the top prospects for 1 starter. Maybe in the off season a more reasonable deal comes together. Horton pitched well today and so did Baltimore’s Rogers. Mahalo
Age makes an appearance.
Come to the Braves! He would be an average reliever in ATL right now
How about Carrasco tonight? He got the job done. Hope he can win a couple more games and leave on his own terms when the year ends.
Could be a good project for a team that probably should have done more— the Red Sox!
Once Ryan Pressly is released, he can go back to the Minnesota Twins Post Fire Sale party for the remainder of the year at league minimum. Pressly will be an upgrade over whatever other stiffs the Twins will have in relief after trading away all five of their best relievers. Gives Pressly a chance to retire as a Twin, which is were he started.
Why doesn’t Kingsford sponsor pitchers Who specialize in how to get lit up?
Has nothing left. Period.
Here in Baltimore we need any pitching we can get for the rest of the year. At the pro-rated league minimum salary, Elias should sign him.
And I don’t like Stroman, but again at the league minimum salary Elias might as well sign him too. It’s only for two months, then they’d both be FA.
Probably better than Barlow, get him reds
See you in Birdland next week- we traded every reliever we had…..
Welcome back to the Twins, buddy.
One would think the Minnesota Twins would be all over bringing Ryan Pressly back as their closer after the Trade Deadline fire sale. Even at this point in Pressly’s career, he is superior to Michael Tonkin as a closer, and comes at prorated league minimum wage, with the Cubs picking up the rest of his salary. Why hasn’t Falvey locked Pressly in for the remainder of 2025 already. The same goes with picking up starter Marcus Stroman that the Yankees released. Stroman would fit in better behind Ryan, Ober and Woods Richardson than anyone else the Twins now have available to start. You can’t get a cheaper replacement for Paddock than a pro-rated league minimum starter with the credentials of Marcus Strommon. Might even sell a couple of tickets to Twin Fans in August and September.
Agree on Pressly. Hard disagree on Stroman. Let Festa, Zebby, Taj, and Abel cook for the rest of the season. Don’t forget Pablo Lopez will be back sooner than later to take a slot as well.
Nice buy low with playoff experience for the Phillies – especially since they don’t view Andrew Painter as a BP piece down the stretch. Duran was the guy for the top, but this could be a creative way to push Lazar back to AAA and see if Pressly is better in a new environment.