If you haven’t heard of Devin Williams» signature pitch, the “Airbender,” a wonderful changeup that seems to mock physics while discouraging hitters, you will soon. This is a great weapon for the new Yankees‘ closer, one of the best finishing pitches in baseball.
Brand talk adds some spice to Williams acquisition Friday in a trade with the Brewersbut the real value to the Yankees goes far beyond marketing. This brings us directly to how they emerge from their post-Juan Soto world. By adding Williams and Max Fritthe elite starter who agreed to an eight-year, $218 million contract last weekrunning prevention is now king in the Bronx, at least so far this winter.
We’ll find out how this works later and there’s probably a lot more to think about as a GM. Brian Cashman addresses scheduling through the remainder of the offseason. But Williams’ deal is easy to like for this reason: An elite reliever can have an outsized impact on a team’s run through October, thanks to all those built-in days off.
The Yankees have made it all the way to October – seven playoff appearances in the last eight years, 59 in their 122-year history (48.4 percent, by far the best in the major leagues). But they haven’t won it all since 2009, which is no doubt greatly lamented by the Yankee fans in your life.
Maybe Williams can help them navigate the playoff cauldron, perhaps to that elusive parade. That’s the idea anyway.
Williams, 30, has a career ERA of 1.83 in 241 games over six seasons in Milwaukee. Since 2020, opponents are hitting a miniscule .145 against Williams. Over the past two seasons, 171 at-bats resulted in his change to “Airbender”; opponents have 13 hits, an average of .111. Of those 171 at-bats, Williams had 73 strikeouts, a strikeout rate of 42.7 percent. Clearly, the pitch is a wonderful complement to his mid-90s fastball.
In recent years, the Yankees have managed to turn little-known pitchers into key cogs in the bullpen – Holmes Clay (5.57 ERA pre-Yankees, 2.69 ERA with them) comes to mind. That helped the Yankees finish sixth, first and third in the majors in bullpen ERA over the past three seasons. Adding one of baseball’s best relievers to their developmental think tank could lead to a crushing bullpen in 2025.
Luke Weaverwho finished the season as the Yankees’ closer, is considering starting Williams, although Cashman told reporters Friday that the closer’s job would fall to the manager. Aaron Boone. But Weaver is a tempting many-innings man — 31 of his 62 appearances during his 2024 breakout have lasted more than three outs and he has worked at least four outs in eight of his 12 playoff games.
Other backup options include Mark Leiter Jr., Ian Hamilton And Jake Cousins. Tommy Kahnle And Tim Hill are free agents. Jonathan Loaisigaan attractive arm, was re-signed but he still has time to recover from injury before returning to the majors.
The Yankees still need a lefty – maybe they should sign Tanner Scottthe premier reliever on the free agent market, as part of a three-pronged super pen. Scott had a 1.75 ERA in 72 games between the Marlins and Padres last season.
To get Williams, the Yankees parted ways with the left-handed starter Nestor Cortes and field prospect Caleb Durbinwho could have played a major role this coming season. The Yankees had recently talked about Durbin, but getting one of the best relievers in baseball is worth any potential risk, plus Cortes, who could have been a depth starter.
The Yankees have a turnover surplus, so “Nasty Nestor” was replaceable. But he had an impressive run with the Yankees. While fans were drawn to his fun nickname, his funk and his backstory – he was a former 36th round pick – he was much more than those nuggets. Cortes was a courageous pitcher who mastered arm angle and ground speed, which he used to destroy hitters’ timing.
Yes, Cortes gave up on that Freddie Freeman World Series grand slam, but he also gave the Yanks a key Game 5 gem in the 2022 AL Division Series victory over Cleveland.
Even though Williams is one of the best relievers in the game, the deal also comes with risks. He missed four months last year with a back injury, but was back in the top flight on his return. The Yankees only have control for one season, which they also had with Cortes, but if this works out they’ll clearly have the motivation to try and work out an extension.
Williams also gave up an important home run to Pete Alonso in Milwaukee’s decisive NL Wild Card Series game against the Mets last October. Called on to protect a 2-0 lead, Williams gave up three runs to Alonso in the top of the ninth in a game the Mets won, 4-2.
These kinds of moments happen to those closest to them and they have to prove that they can overcome them. Mariano Rivera abandoned this famous homer for Sandy Alomar Jr. in the 1997 playoffs and it probably made him a better pitcher. No one compares Rivera to Williams – no one should ever be compared to Rivera – simply illustrating that there are paths through the trauma of October. Clearly, the Yankees believe Williams has his.
The Yankees were never going to find the same kind of single-player offensive impact for their roster after parting ways with Soto for Queens – there’s a reason, eh, for that Soto received $765 million from the Mets. So pitching was their priority at the start of winter.
Maybe it’s not as flashy as today’s slot Ted Williams next to Aaron Judge in the batting order.
But if the Yankees have played well and continue to work on offense, it could get them back to October. If Williams and his “Airbender” can flourish there, who knows what might happen.
