Josh

Hader

Hader, who ended last season with a strained left shoulder, has been dealing with biceps inflammation that has delayed his throwing program. His arm has felt good as he has started ramping back up, so Tuesday’s bullpen session will be the next step to seeing when he can get on the mound in spring training action. If the bullpen and subsequent spring action go without a hitch, Hader may only be a couple of weeks behind schedule, but be prepared for the Astros to be cautious with their closer in the early going. That still makes Bryan Abreu a solid pick in fantasy drafts, given all the questions surrounding Hader.

The progression continues. Hader will have gone from playing catch to a bullpen session to hitting the mound next week. It seems like he’s still well behind schedule to be ready for Opening Day, but this remains a very fluid situation. Bryan Abreu is who you should be targeting in fantasy leagues if you’re not convinced Hader will be ready to go.

Hader has been limited to playing catch after experiencing biceps inflammation in his ramp up. If he’s pain-free when he gets back on the mound, then there might be some chance of him being available on Opening Day. Still, it seems more likely that he’ll miss at least the first week or two of the season. Bryan Abreu is the Astros’ fallback in the closer’s role.

Hader remains without a definitive timetable to return as Houston’s closer, which opens the door for elite high-leverage specialist Bryan Abreu to open the season in the ninth-inning role. The 31-year-old southpaw has been working his way back from biceps inflammation that cropped up earlier this month and should progress to throwing a bullpen session in the near future. He’s a virtual lock to open the year on the injured list, which has caused his fantasy stock to crater in re-draft formats.

He’s continued to play catch after biceps inflammation sprung up in early February, but the fact that we’re now almost in March and Hader doesn’t really seem to be progressing is ominous. Fantasy managers that draft Hader — and at this point we’d continue to break tier ties against Hader — should consider pursuing Bryan Abreu as a contingency plan later in their drafts.

What that actually means for Hader’s availability to start the regular season remains to be seen. The 31-year-old southpaw is dealing with inflammation in his biceps tendon after finishing the 2025 campaign on the injured list with a left shoulder strain. Until he’s back up on a mound and facing live hitters, it’s difficult to project any sort of timeline for his absence. Bryan Abreu will open the season in the closer’s role if Hader starts the year on the IL.

Imaging revealed inflammation of Hader’s biceps tendon and Espada said he has not thrown the last “10 or 11" days. While this timeline gives him plenty of time to ramp up for the season, we don’t love to hear about inflammation on an MRI in February. We’ll be monitoring Hader’s status closely but this is probably something worth breaking a tie in your draft against Hader for if your league is drafting in the near future. Hader said he is “probably a few weeks behind” but didn’t rule out being ready for Opening Day.

This is all very odd. Olney offers up no actual quotes in his article, and none of the Astros’ beat writers have chimed in on the subject. Hader is coming back from a strained left shoulder that cost him the end of last year, but he said he was back throwing normally in November. If something has changed, we should have more than Olney’s vague report soon.

Hader was quick to note that he’s clearly not throwing at near full intensity right now, so feeling normal is a bit different than feeling normal during the season. “It should be normal. Obviously, intensity gets up (in Spring Training), and we’ll see how that goes and how I’m recovering, bouncing back from that.” As of now, Hader is set to begin spring training as normal, but he does have some elevated risk in fantasy leagues due to the shoulder injury with no surgical fix.

Brown continued that they believe that Hader is “on course to come back and be there for Opening Day.” Hader was placed on the IL on August 12 with a shoulder strain and was unable to return to the mound. Bryan Abreu filled in as the team’s closer, but will likely return to a high-leverage stopper role. Hader was electric when healthy in 2025, but considering Hader opted not to have surgery this offseason, he does come with some elevated risk in 2026.