New Cubs reliever Ryan Pressly pulled into the school parking lot, early to a parent-teacher conference Wednesday afternoon. Before he entered, he had to call in from Houston for his introductory Zoom press conference with Chicago reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was tough to make this decision, probably one of the hardest decisions I\u2019ve ever made,\u201d Pressly said of waiving his no-trade clause to go to the Cubs. \u201cBut playing in Chicago has kind of always been a dream of mine, and I\u2019m excited to get out there and put on a Cubs uniform.\u201d<\/p>\n
Approving the trade from Houston meant leaving a place Pressly had come to consider home. The Dallas native had pitched for the Astros for parts of six seasons, since the Twins traded him in July of 2018. And his wife, Kat, grew up in Houston.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of my friends and family live in the Houston area,\u201d Presley said. \u201cAnd then going up to play the Rangers, [a division rival,] I get to see even more family and friends. Both my kids were born here. They go to school here. \u2026 It\u2019s hard to leave your home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then there was the chance to go to Chicago, play for a historic franchise, and pitch at Wrigley Field. Pressly mentioned watching \u201cRookie of the Year,\u201d the fictional movie about a 12-year-old who stumbles into pitching for the Cubs, as a kid.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of these opportunities I don\u2019t feel like comes around very often,\u201d Pressly said.<\/p>\n
Pressly will also get to compete for the closer spot, which wasn\u2019t open anymore in Houston. When the Astros signed Josh Hader to a five-year, $95 million deal last year, they moved Pressly from closer to setup man.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an unbelievable guy and a great teammate,\u201d Pressly said of Hader. \u201cAnd pitching in the eighth inning, setting him up, I wanted to help the team win. It didn\u2019t matter, really, what I did. And learning from it, it was tough. You get demoted, and then you\u2019ve got to go out there and be professional and try to lead the right way. \u2026 That\u2019s what they pay us to do, is to go out there and be a professional.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cubs didn\u2019t have a consistent closer last year, but by the end of the season, Porter Hodge had claimed the role as a rookie. He recorded nine saves and a 1.88 ERA.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had an unbelievable year, put up great numbers,\u201d Pressly said. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to be a pretty dynamic duo in the back end of the bullpen. I\u2019m going to go into camp competing for that ninth inning role, and whatever happens is going to happen. And if they think that I can fit in that ninth inning role or the eighth inning role, then my job is just to go get three outs, four outs, five outs \u2014 doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the Cubs can\u2019t offer the same level of familiarity as the Astros, Pressly will recognize plenty of faces when he reports to spring training. He said he plans to head to Arizona on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Pressly will be reunited with Astros teammate Kyle Tucker and Twins teammate Caleb Thielbar. And Pressly goes way back with pitching coach Tommy Hottovy \u2014 to before Pressly even cracked into the majors, when he and Hottovy overlapped in the Red Sox organization. Then there\u2019s Jameson Taillon, who grew up in the Houston area, and who Pressly has crossed paths with through a mutual trainer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe sold me on it pretty good,\u201d Pressly said of conversations with Taillon about the Cubs.<\/p>\n
According to Pressly, \u201cwithin 30 seconds\u201d of waiving his no-trade clause, he received a text message from shortstop Dansby Swanson. Pressly has also talked to manager Craig Counsell and president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s been welcoming, with open arms,\u201d Pressly said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be exciting. I can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pressly is set to compete for the closer role in spring training.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30089,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n