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By Jon Vankin
Contributing Sports Writer
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After needing to use a patchwork of relievers in the closing role down the stretch in 2024 as they made a run to the World Series, demoting Clay Holmes despite his 30 saves and replacing him primarily with Luke Weaver, the New York Yankees believed they had solved their back-end bullpen problem with one offseason move.
They traded for Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams, who saved 36 games in 2024.
But things didn't work out quite the way the Yankees has envisioned. Williams blew four saves in 22 chances and suffered a series of failures that eventually led general manager Brian Cashman to make a series of trades at the July 31 deadline, bringing in two more closers: Camilo Doval from the San Francisco Giants, and David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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Bednar quickly grabbed the Yankees closer's job, saving 10 games with a 2.19 ERA in his two months in New York, plus another two in the Bronx Bombers' abbreviated postseason.
Williams was playing on a one-year, $8.6 million contract, and may now become an unrestricted free agent. Now, according to Pinstripes Nation analysts Sara Molnick, Williams' departure from the Yankees appears "final" due to one "factor" that appears important to the 31-year-old, who was a 2013 St. Louis Cardinals second-round draft pick.
He wants his closer's job back.
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But Williams this week was not fully prepared to deliver an ultimatum on the issue.
“It’s a factor. I don’t know. I can’t really answer that right now," Williams said, when asked by the New York Daily News about whether he wants to close again. "It depends on the scenario. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
According to Molnick, "That bridge, as it turns out, leads him away from the Bronx."
Even if Williams is willing to back off from the ninth inning role, with Bednar continuing as the closer next season, the Yankees have no strong motivation to bring him back, Molnick wrote.
"This winter’s free-agent market for closers is deep. Veterans like Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, Raisel Iglesias, Ryan Helsley, Kenley Jansen, and Kyle Finnegan could all be available," the Pinstripes Nation writer noted. "Williams will find a new home — likely one that lets him return to the ninth inning. But that’s a role the Yankees have already filled."
Bednar earned $5.9 million this season, and according to the MLB Trade Rumors mathematical formula, is projected to collect a $9 million paycheck in 2026. That sum is likely to be considerably less that Williams would command, even though the the deposed Yankee closer would be fulfilling a lesser role out of the bullpen.
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