Report: Josh Hader ‘more likely than not’ to stay with Brewers as deadline approaches

Trade rumors for Josh Hader started pretty much the moment we learned last year that he was a Super Two player, eligible for arbitration — and getting more expensive — a year early.

To this point, David Stearns’ asking price has (rightly) been insane. Hader has been historically good to start his career and has plenty of team control left, and the team is still in the middle of a playoff race with no real incentive to move him.

Still, that hasn’t stopped the rumors from coming. By most reports, Stearns has stuck to his MO of listening on everyone, but as the national insiders have reported over the weekend, there haven’t been any outgoing calls on Hader — meaning Stearns is open to taking calls on Hader, but he isn’t actively shopping him.

Things can obviously change in a hurry on Deadline Day, but as of this morning, it doesn’t look like Hader will be traded (at least to the Yankees), according to Jon Heyman.

Most of the speculation on Hader has focused on the Yankees, Dodgers and Padres — three teams in the thick of the playoff race with deep farm systems that could possibly meet the high demands. As Heyman says, though, New York hasn’t been able to make progress on a deal, and San Diego figures to be moving many of the pieces the Brewers would find interesting in other deals — especially now that they’ve landed Mike Clevinger from Cleveland.

That would seem to indicate a Hader trade is becoming more unlikely, at least for now.