Yankees Notes: Devin Williams, Kyle Tucker, Payroll

The Yankees are interested in bringing free agent closer Devin Williams back to the Bronx. League sources told Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic that the team has discussed a reunion with Williams’ camp.

Williams is one of the top names on the closer market. He landed at No. 16 on our Top 50 Free Agents list, which put him second among relievers, behind only Edwin Diaz. The 31-year-old is expected to have many suitors, with the Reds and Red Sox linked to him last week, and the Mets, Tigers, and Giants joining the mix this week. The Dodgers and Marlins have also been connected to Williams.

New York sent Caleb Durbin and Nestor Cortes to Milwaukee for Williams in December 2024. He struggled in his first month with the team, losing the closer role by May. An injury to fill-in closer Luke Weaver allowed Williams to regain the role, and he pitched well in June and July. The trade deadline acquisition of David Bednar pushed Williams back into setup duty. He closed the year with his best stretch of the campaign, posting 13 scoreless innings from September 7 through the postseason.

Williams said he would “definitely be open” to returning to the Yankees back in October. As for whether being the closer would impact his next destination, Williams said it “depends on the scenario.” While Weaver is a free agent, New York still has Bednar and fellow trade deadline acquisition Camilo Doval under team control for next season.

Williams isn’t the only high-profile free agent on the Yankees’ radar. General manager Brian Cashman told reporters on Thursday, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, that he’s been in contact with agent Casey Close on several players. That list of possible targets includes Kyle Tucker, Kyle Schwarber, Michael King, and former Yankee Paul Goldschmidt. Cashman also mentioned interest in Tatsuya Imai, who was posted by the Seibu Lions earlier this week. “We’re certainly engaging all these players in the marketplace,” Cashman said.

Tucker will likely have just as many suitors as Williams, perhaps more. Toronto is considered by some teams to be the favorite to land the star outfielder, but the Dodgers, Yankees, and Orioles have been linked to him. Given that he’s the big prize in free agency this offseason, additional teams are bound to come forward as potential candidates.

New York regained an outfielder when Trent Grisham accepted the qualifying offer, but lost one when Cody Bellinger opted out of his contract. Jasson Dominguez is penciled in alongside Grisham and Aaron Judge, but he hasn’t performed well enough to discourage the Yankees from going after a massive upgrade in Tucker. They could also re-up with Bellinger.

As far as paying for these potential acquisitions, Cashman was noncommittal about whether payroll would exceed $300MM. “I think it could go both ways. So it just depends on how things shake out and what opportunities present themselves,” he told reporters, including Hoch. FanGraphs’ RosterResource tool currently has the Yankees’ payroll at around $260MM next season. Grisham’s deal added about $22MM to the ledger, and he’s just the sixth-highest-paid player on the team next year. New York’s payroll was around $296MM this past season after topping $300MM in 2024.

A deal for Tucker, Schwarber, Williams, or any of the other marquee names will likely require a big commitment across many years. The Yankees already have several of those types of deals on the books between Judge, Max Fried, Gerrit Cole, and Carlos Rodon, who are all on large contracts through at least 2028. Cashman expressed confidence he could make it work, though. “The job right now is to find out what’s available, and those all have different price points,” Cashman said. “There could be cheap players that are available that are good, or there could be very expensive players that are available that are good.”