The New York Yankees have acquired reliever Devin Williams from the Milwaukee Brewers, it was announced on Friday. Pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr., infield prospect Caleb Durbin and some money are headed to Milwaukee.
The 30-year-old Williams recorded 14 saves in 22 appearances with the Brewers last season. He missed the first three months of the season due to a stress fracture in his back. After returning, Williams allowed just three earned runs over 21 2/3 innings in the regular season.
In the postseason, Williams played twice in Milwaukee’s series against the New York Mets. It was Williams who gave up Pete Alonso’s ninth-inning home run in Game 3, sparking the Mets’ series-clinching rally.
The Brewers declined Williams’ $10.5 million option for the 2025 season, and he will enter his final season of arbitration in 2025.
Williams, a two-time NL All-Star and the 2020 NL Rookie of the Year, spent all six of his MLB seasons with the Brewers and took over the closer’s role, picking up 68 saves in 235 2/3 innings while playing a recorded 1.83. ERA and 1.02 WHIP.
The addition of Williams, plus the return of Jonathan Loáisiga from Tommy John surgery, will strengthen the Yankees’ bullpen. The question remains whether manager Aaron Boone will use Williams or Luke Weaver as the team’s closer in 2025.
Clay Holmes, who was the Yankees’ closer until he lost the job to Weaver, signed with the New York Mets last week.
Cortes has established himself as a reliable starter since he started seeing an increased workload in 2021. He made 84 starts for the Yankees over the past four seasons (173 1/3 innings in 2024), but with the addition of Max Fried for the Yankees, it was clear that someone in the rotation had to be moved.
For New York, this is a great follow-up to the massive signing of Max Fried to an eight-year deal worth $218 million. The Yankees bolstered their rotation with one of the best left-handed starters in the league in Fried and now bolster their bullpen with one of the best closers in baseball in Williams. While there is still a lot of work to be done to address the group of position players, the Yankees have rightly determined that replacing Soto’s impact on the offense would be difficult, if not impossible, given the options available and Soto’s unique skill set. Instead, they have thus far pursued top talent on the mound in hopes of building an elite pitching staff that can serve as the backbone of the team’s success.
And Milwaukee has executed this playbook before, trading away star closer Josh Hader before the end of his contract and dealing top prospect Corbin Burnes with one year left on his contract. While Williams was injured in 2024, the Brewers have shown they can churn out viable, high-leverage utility weapons just like any other organization in baseball, and there are several candidates who could emerge in 2025 as the next great Milwaukee closer . Giant flamethrower Trevor Megill, who quietly collected 21 saves in 2024, is the heir apparent as things stand, though he’ll have to prove he can keep it going for a full season. His 48 appearances and 46 1/3 innings in 2024 both marked career highs at the big league level.
Had Milwaukee focused strictly on shedding Williams’ salary, this likely would have been a deal built around prospects and/or pre-arbitration players. But MLB Trade Rumors projected that both Williams and Cortes would earn around $7.7 million in their final year of arbitration, meaning Milwaukee’s payroll won’t change dramatically with this move. (The Yankees are reportedly sending $2 million to Milwaukee as part of the trade.) Acquiring Cortes signals the Brewers’ intent to allocate resources to their thin rotation and reminds us that they’re still in the win-now mode, despite trading away their celebrated closing event. With free agency looming next winter, Cortes could only be a short-term solution, but for a team in dire need of quality innings, the left-hander could prove immensely valuable as manager Pat Murphy’s side attempt to win the NL Central crown to defend. . Read more. — Shusterman
