Last season with the Houston Astros, reliever Chad Qualls was one of the stabilizing forces in the Astros bullpen in 2014 along with Tony Sipp and Josh Fields. According to Baseball-Reference, Qualls signed with the Astros in 2014 to serve as the team’s closer for a two-year contract for $5.95 million with a third-year team option of $3.5 million for the 2016 season. Qualls also had a hand in the recruiting closer Luke Gregerson and reliever Pat Neshek to come to Houston in the offseason, even willing to lose the closer role to make the team better.