The Yankees are adding a huge piece to their bullpen, with New York trading for Brewers closer Devin Williams.
In exchange for Williams, the Yanks are sending left-handed pitcher Nestor Cortes, infield prospect Caleb Durbin, and cash considerations to Milwaukee.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said the club has been talking with Milwaukee about acquiring the closer for what “feels like years.”
“It feels like every trade deadline, every spring training we’ve had conversations with those guys, which have continued,” the GM said. “It’s nice to find a match.”
Cashman said adding Williams is about finding “as many quality talented players as we can to give Aaron Boone [the guys] to line up on both sides of the ball.”
“This is a high-quality arm to fit in with the ‘pen,” he continued. “We’ve lost some key players here to free agency that obviously helped us navigate, you saw a number of those pitchers getting big outs, especially in the postseason. So, clearly, there were some vacancies there and we need to try to find ways to replace it.”
He added that the club likes what they already have on the roster, but wanted to another option for Boone and pitching coach Matt Blake out of the bullpen.
The 30-year-old Williams, who will earn roughly $8.4 million in 2025, is set for free agency after the season. Cashman said the Yankees have not had “any conversations internally or externally” about an extension.
Williams, one of the truly elite relievers in baseball, features a four-seam fastball and dastardly changeup that is nicknamed the “airbender.”
He missed the first four months of the 2024 season due to stress fractures in his back, but was dominant upon his return. In 21.2 innings over 22 games during the regular season, Williams had a 1.25 ERA (2.06 FIP) and 0.96 WHIP with 38 strikeouts — a rate of 15.8 per nine.
In six big league seasons, Williams has a 1.83 ERA (2.39 FIP) and 1.02 WHIP with 375 strikeouts in 235.2 innings over 241 appearances.
“The soft contact, the swing and miss, the ground balls, all of the above, the consistency he’s been able to provide for quite some time now,” Cashman said when asked what attracted them to Williams, pointing out the “devastating changeup” and big fastball, as well.
Cortes, who became rotation depth after the Yankees signed Max Fried to an eight-year deal, will earn a shade over $8 million this coming season and — like Williams — will be a free agent after 2025.
Cortes was strong last season, with a 3.77 ERA (3.84 FIP) and 1.15 WHIP in 174.1 innings over 31 games (30 starts).
And part of what went into the equation was giving up a starter to get a receiver, especially one the Yanks think very highly of.
“Ultimately we have an inventory and we were, in theory, deep in the starting rotation,” he said, adding that at the Winter Meetings he said that “If we had to use that inventory to sure-up some other aspect of the club, we have to strongly consider that. And so that’s how we have currently utilized that inventory.
“Hopefully, this balances us out a little bit more between the starting rotation and the bullpen options… we did rob Peter to pay Paul, but we felt that risk was worth doing given who Williams is.”
Cashman thanked Cortes for his service and being a “really quality pitcher that did a lot for us.”
Durbin, 24, hit .269/.374/.407 with 22 homers in 281 games in four minor league seasons for the Yanks.
The Yankees have been in an aggressive mode since losing Juan Soto to the Mets.
In addition to adding Fried for $218 million toward the end of the Winter Meetings, and have been involved in discussions for free agent Alex Bregman and – after Chicago beat them to the punch in nabbing Kyle Tucker from Houston – Cody Bellinger.
Cashman, who admitted to looking down at his phone to check texts that were coming in during his Zoom conference with the media, added that “the job isn’t finished” this offseason.
“Now is the time to strike,” he said. “It’s the winter time, with the inventory that’s currently available via trade or free agency, and then eventually that inventory is gonna get lots smaller and you’re entering spring training with less opportunity to drastically improve your club until the trade deadline.
“So we want to take advantage of this window of opportunity.”
