After longtime closer Clay Holmes left in free agency to become a starter with the Mets, the Yankees needed bullpen help and found it with the trade for Brewers All-Star closer Devin Williams.
Or that's what they hoped for.
Williams assumed the role of closer out of spring training but struggled out of the gate. What followed was an up-and-down season where he lost, regained, and lost his job as the team's closer before ultimately finding himself down the stretch.
Through it all, Williams became an important piece to manager Aaron Boone's bullpen. And when the Yankees acquired David Bednar from the Pirates, with him becoming the new closer, Williams excelled as New York's setup man.
The 31-year-old is now set for free agency, and he rebounded just in time to test the market.
Should the Yankees bring him back?
WHY IT COULD MAKE SENSE TO KEEP WILLIAMS
Williams is an elite reliever despite what Yankees fans saw for parts of 2025.
Throughout his seven-year career, Williams won the NL Rookie of the Year award when he posted a minuscule 0.33 ERA across 22 appearances in the shortened 2020 season and went to back-to-back All-Star games when he posted sub-2.00 ERAs in 2022 and 2023. Unfortunately, his 2024 started late after he suffered an injury, but he rebounded nicely, pitching to a 1.25 ERA in 22 appearances.
But that was with Milwaukee. How did he do with the Yankees?
Well, not great, but not as bad as many may remember. Yes, he posted a career-worst 4.79 ERA, but that was due to his early blowups. He posted a 9.00 ERA in April and never quite bounced back. Here's Williams' monthly ERA the rest of the season:
- May: 4.22
- June: 0.93
- July: 5.73
- August: 4.91
- September: 3.72
A roller coaster, to say the least, but Williams regained his form as the regular season came to an end, allowing no runs in his final nine appearances (9.0 IP). In the postseason, he was just as dominant, pitching five shutout innings across four games while striking out four batters. That included shutdown innings in the back-to-back wins in the Wild Card series over the Red Sox, and the 1.1 innings pitched to help complete the improbable comeback in Game 3 of the ALDS against the Blue Jays.
Dig into Williams' stats and his stuff is still good. According to Baseball Savant, he had a 37.7 percent whiff rate, which ranked in the 99th percentile, and he was in the 97th percentile in chase percentage. Also, his xBA was .198, putting him in the 96th percentile.
WHY IT COULD MAKE SENSE TO LET WILLIAMS GO
While the advanced metrics showed Williams' stuff was still good, how do you explain his on-and-off struggles with the Yankees in 2025?
Perhaps the change from small-market Milwaukee to New York City was too much for him, as we saw with so many other big leaguers. Did the pressure and high expectations from a rabid fanbase, or knowing that he was in a walk year, affect him?
We will likely never know, but those questions should be considered when answering whether the Yankees should want Williams back.
Sure, he seemed to round into form by the end — which he and Boone deserve a lot of credit for — but that mercurial nature may not be something the Yankees need right now, especially if he gets off to a bad start next year.
Also, if Bednar is going to be the closer for the foreseeable future, that would make Williams the setup man. He may be looking elsewhere to be a closer, and the money that comes with it.
A bidding war for Williams may not be worth it at this juncture. This past trade deadline not only brought in Bednar, but also Camilo Doval as multi-year relievers. Doval could potentially become the setup man for Bednar, or the Yankees could bring back Luke Weaver and try to rehabilitate him.
There are a lot of options in the bullpen, and a potentially high-priced setup man may not be what they are looking for this offseason.
VERDICT
The Yankees' bullpen will look a lot different next season with Williams, Weaver and Tim Hill (club option) potentially leaving in free agency. While Williams proved to be a worthy arm once he figured things out, he may be too expensive — especially if he's just going to set up Bednar.
The looming cost and uneven performance in his first season in the Bronx should give the Yanks pause. New York has options in the bullpen, and with a robust list of relievers exploring free agency, bringing in some lower-leverage (and lower-cost) options will benefit the Yankees in the long run.
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