The acquisition of former Milwaukee Brewer pitcher, Devin Williams, provides the Yankees with much needed relief in more than one sense of the word. He provides another quality arm to the bullpen, adding depth/options and he gives some relief to ever reliable Luke Weaver, who bailed the Yankees out of many sticky situations in the post season, emerging as one of the top relievers in the game. But the one thing I was not counting on was for Williams to relieve Luke Weaver of his closer duties. So now I am scratching my head: is Luke Weaver not the Yankee closer?
ESPN is calling Williams Mo 2.0 while Yahoo Sports reports, "Devin Williams may not have thrown a pitch in pinstripes yet, but the Yankees' new closer is seen as the best reliever going into the 2025 season. MLB Network released their annual top 10 list of relievers on Wednesday and the right-hander was ranked at the top of the list for the second consecutive year. Williams, 30, was acquired by the Yankees in a trade with the Brewers in mid-December and will look to play up to his MLB Network ranking."
Now is this just an assumption or is it fact? Will Williams replace Weaver as the new Yankee closer? According to ESPN, "For Williams, it all starts with The Airbender. Williams grips it like a changeup and its 84-mph average velocity plays off his fastball like a changeup. But it's a changeup with an exceptionally high spin rate that breaks to his arm side -- opposite from the typical changeup -- making it resemble a screwball or a left-hander's sweeping slider. It is without precedent."
What is actually ironic is that Williams compares his superior "Airbender" change up to another guy we all know. "Williams said the closest changeup he's seen to his belongs to Luke Weaver, whose emergence as a shutdown reliever in 2024 was crucial in the Yankees reaching the World Series. Williams happened to be in New York when the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers played in the Fall Classic," reported ESPN.
Although no one on the Yankee brass is saying it except for this notion reported by NJ.com, "Yankees GM Brian Cashman said it’s up to manager Aaron Boone on how to arrange his bullpen, Williams figures to have the ninth inning, with Luke Weaver back in a valuable multi-inning setup role."
All publicity points to Williams as the Yankee closer for 2025, despite Weaver's incredible performance in 2024, particularly when they needed him most down the stretch. According to MLB.com, "In the postseason, Weaver remained the linchpin of the Yankees’ bullpen. The right-hander earned four saves and a win during New York’s march to the World Series and registered a 1.76 ERA across 15 1/3 frames." He stepped in cool and calm when the Yankee closer Clay Holmes began his meltdown. If not for Weaver, likely the Yankees don't even make it to the Fall Classic.
But now, he goes back to set up man to the presumably bigger Williams, again without the Yankees confirming or denying this assertion. Yet if you read the headlines, you have to assume Weaver has been demoted. Honestly, I am not okay with that.
I say this: give everyone an opportunity to perform. And really, does it all really matter? I think all this pomp and circumstance around "the closer" is crap. Yes, there was Mariano Rivera. And he is superhuman. And perhaps he started all the closer hype. But he earned it. And guess what? So did Weaver. So perhaps we should just pipe down about who's the closer and who's not and just let the two battle it out in real time, this spring. But better yet, I would like to go with this approach that ESPN suggests, "He'll (Williams) partner with Weaver to create one of the best bullpen back ends in baseball -- in hopes of helping the Yankees win their first championship since Rivera was dominating hitters with his cutter." Yep, that works.
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--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Senior Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof
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