Astros veteran rebukes GM Dana Brown over remarks following Ryan Pressly trade

Houston Astros traded reliever Ryan Pressly to the Chicago Cubs this week following a tumultuous season where his relationship with GM Dana Brown soured over the year.

While Pressly was the team's closer, signing free agent Josh Hader ahead of 2024 forced him to take on a setup reliever role last season. Following the trade, Brown opened up on his troubled relationship with Pressly and Astros veteran Josh Reddick has rebuked the general manager's handling of the matter (via Crush City Territory) [7:40 - 9:25]:

"If you can't talk face to face with anybody in this business, you're going to lose a lot of respect for that person individually. So I'm sure that Ryan (Pressly) lost a lot of respect for somebody like that just to come out and say that our relationship was fractured and probably would have been no matter what.

"I think that somemthing should have been done about talking to Ryan a little bit better about it and just being a little bit of a man about it. Because you see these guys all the time, you don't want to have sour relationship because you never know how that's going to affect the player. He may not want to go out there and perform as best for you. He's still going to be a great teammate because Pressly is a great guy and a great teammate so he's not going tro hold that grudge. But to have that come from somebody in that position, it's a pretty tough pill to swallow."

Ryan Pressly started his major league career with the Minnestoa Twins in 2013 and was traded to the Houston Astros in the final year of his contract in 2018. After making the move to Houston, Pressly eventually earned to closer position after having been a setup reliever for most of his career.

However, when the Astros signed Josh Hader ahead of the 2024 season, Pressly was moved back to a setup reliever role, which didn't sit well with him. While there were rumors of a rift between Ryan Pressly and GM Dana Brown throughout the season, nothing was public until the GM acknowledged the difficult situation after the trade this week.

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Ryan Pressly shares his excitement in working under Cubs' pitching coach in introductory interview

After completing his trade to the Chicago Cubs this week, reliever Ryan Pressly spoke at an introductory interview via video call on the Marquee Sports Network.

While expressing his excitement, Pressly also spoke highly of the Cubs' pitching coach Tommy Hottovy:

“I think I’ve known Tommy (Hottovy) for the past 16-17 years… all he wants to do is help you get better.”

Hottovy is former MLB pitcher who has played with the Boston Red Sox and the Kansas City Royals. While his career as a plyer in the majors didn't last long, he has grown into one of the most respected pitching coaches in the MLB over the years with the Cubs.