The San Diego Padres were widely praised for their aggressive move to acquire closer Josh Hader from the Milwaukee Brewers prior to the MLB trade deadline. In retrospect, they have to be wondering if they made a big mistake in doing so.
On Sunday, Hader was brought in for the bottom of the eighth against the Kansas City Royals, with the Padres trailing 9-6. Hader proceeded to allow six earned runs in one-third of an inning. The Royals racked up five hits and two walks against the former All-Star. The situation got out of hand so quickly that Hader was actually replaced by position player Wil Myers on the mound to get out of the inning.
Hader’s command was all over the place, particularly against Royals outfielder Michael A. Taylor, the last batter he faced before being removed.
Hader’s issue is this was far from an isolated meltdown. In four of his seven appearances since joining the Padres, he has allowed multiple baserunners. While Sunday was his worst outing, he had two other games where he gave up three runs in less than an inning of work. After Sunday, his ERA since joining the Padres sits at 25.71. His season-long ERA is now 6.52.
The Padres had already scaled back Hader’s closing duties, but now they have to be wondering what to do with him. They have little choice but to try to get to the bottom of the issue, whether physical or mental, and get him back to a usable pitcher. Brewers players pretty clearly hated the trade after it happened. If this keeps up, those players may have to admit Milwaukee’s front office knew what it was doing.
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