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.”
Even the 2025 version of Tucker could separate the Blue Jays from the rest of the division.
I wouldn’t mind if the jays signed Williams especially cause Pete Walker is a gawd and it would look rubbed in the Yankees faces if he had a bounce back season and the jays bullpen became a 3 headed beast of Williams Hoffman Varland
I don’t think Williams needs much help. His metrics were still very good. He had one bad stretch that tanked his ERA for the year
jdgoat: It was more than a bad stretch. He blew a ton of games last year. He had 2 good stretches is the better way to look at it. Not saying he’s cooked but that was an ugly year results wise. I can’t see him coming back to the Bronx, someone will give him 3 years to close.
I thought of mentioning that. He was great in June, good in September, weak in May & August, and bad in April & July.
Ok he sounds perfect for the Red Sox, ok? Smh
he sounds perfect for the Red Sox, ok? Smh
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IMO, no chance he goes to the RS.
I really hope making it to the WS was a turning point for the blue jays and their free agency struggles. Love to see them land Bo and Tucker 🇨🇦
Sorry Yankee Fans, but I guess if you read this story, you’d know that Spencer Jones is either as good as gone in a trade or a non-prospect. Probably traded. Either him or Dominguez. But No mention of Mr Untouchable Jones.
What do they need Tucker for if they have this gold star prospect tucked in their minor leagues just waiting?
What would they have needed Caballero or Rosario or Peraza or Chisholm to play third if they had just kept Caleb Durbin?
Cashman Still chasing headlines after all these years, though he needs a better understanding of who to keep and who to trade. The Peraza/Peroza/LeMatheiu at third base mistake is one he is still trying to clean up.
I am in no way a Cashman fan but nobody complained when the Williams trade was made last year. Sometimes the GM is blamed when we should be blaming the player.
@Dog
agreed. I loved the prospect of Durbin at 2b and Jazz staying at 3rd but thought Williams was an excellent pick up to address the bullpen. Williams had fluky results though pretty good underlying stats that should give hope that he wasn’t as bad as he seemed.
What an awful take. You always try to acquire the best players available and worry about the rest later.
roblucka:
“What an awful take. You always try to acquire the best players available and worry about the rest later.”
“Always”?
I’d say your take is the awful take. Every team, at any given time, is at a different stage of contending and rebuilding. Right now, Yankees have to start laying the groundwork for rebuilding, because the ‘worry about the rest later’ is coming to roost. How many years over the salary threshold are they? How many prospects have they shipped out the past few years? It cant go on forever the way MLB is structured now.
robluca21
What an awful take. You always try to acquire the best players available
=========================
Not even close. Unless you are LAD, you acquire the best value, or the best fits. Acquiring the most expensive players will usually backfire.
“you acquire the best value, or the best fits.”
I agree with this
(For whatever my opinion is worth).
@imiss
Cashman, nor any other GM, are ever going to sit there and say they “aren’t” interested in a FA. In fact, I think they aren’t allowed to publicly declare disinterest in a FA. Secondly, saying that he’s “engaged all these players in the marketplace” isn’t anywhere close to saying Tucker or any other guy is a huge priority. Thirdly, Jones clearly has room for improvement. Maybe he appears in 2026 or maybe not. Clearly he’s a prospect and the majors are littered with guys who strike out north of 150 + ks but can hit 40+ bombs. What he can do is tbd but the Yanks do, and are justified in doing so, view him as a legit prospect. As for Dominguez, I don’t get the idea that having Grisham means they MUST do dinnering to get rid of Dominguez or Jones. Grisham is only signed to a 1 year deal and is a bit to get more expensive. Give Cashman props for getting him as a “throw in” in the Soto deal. Cashman would be a full to decide he’s not star potential at age 22 with 400 AB to go off of. I can’t see him bring trading unless for a really big impact bat.
Who the heck is Peroza?
Anyone know why Toronto is continually mentioned to be the frontrunner for Tucker?
Because his agents are use the jays as a stalking horse.
Unless they’re going to overpay he won’t sign there. The team is obviously quite good but tax issues mean when everything is equal the Jay’s need to add a few million more to equalize their offer.
Not necessarily JJ.
Firstly Ontario tax rates are comparable to NY and CA, so it’s not just Toronto that is a high tax location.
Secondly it’s easy to circumvent, signing bonuses are taxed in resident state, so you just put heavy signing bonus per year, with a spring training (Florida) address and the player bypasses Canadian taxes on that portion. They did this with the Vlad deal
Dusty: The top federal rate for Canada is 16% higher. You are right a big bonus can help but I am right they need to add extra millions to their contracts for their players. It also depends on who they’re bidding against. States with no state tax have advantages over places like CA and NY, that gap gets even wider with Toronto.
For the most part tax free states haven’t been handing out big contracts, I don’t think Miami, rays, Houston or rangers will be factors for Tucker.
Top blended income tax rates for NY is 46.7%, CA 45.6% and Ontario is 51.3%. This only applies to home games of course so extra tax for playing in Toronto would be 2-3%.
Now of course that adds up with these contracts but spending USD when the CAD is so weak more than makes up for that delta. Add a signing bonus per year to remove that 2-3% impact and pretty much all things are equal.
Dusty:
“Firstly Ontario tax rates are comparable to NY and CA”
Not what Ive heard for high earners at all. Here’s what Google says, when comparing NY, LA and Tor:
“Toronto generally has the highest combined personal income tax rates, especially for high earners.”
Also, there are many other revenue sources in NY or LA to supplement a star player’s income that dont exist in Toronto. Playing baseball in Canada is akin to joining the witness protection program.
I gave you exact numbers and your rebuttal is anecdotal google language lol the numbers are above, and you only pay home tax on home games.
Toronto is the 4th biggest by population in the mlb, Toronto is consistently top 10 in attendance and top 1 for viewership.
Spare me your anecdotal garbage that lacks any facts, do some research and gently pull your head out of your backside
Jays are 11th in free agency spend in the last 10 years, if the jays are witness protection what are the 19 other teams that are giving out less money in free agency?
“I gave you exact numbers”
I was responding to your earlier post where there were no numbers.
—————–
“Top 10 in attendance”
You mean 9th place, when they have the best record in AL. So basically poor position. Toronto is ahead of the 20 teams that would never bid on Tucker anyways, the teams ahead of them (LAD, SD, NYY, Phi, NYM, ChiC, SF) are the ones Toronto would have to bid against.
Only around 40% of their income is taxed in Canada when you consider road games and spring training. Also there’s things like signing bonuses and RCAs to further mitigate any tax differences. By the time it’s all said and done, it doesn’t usually work out to much more than a couple percentage point differences between places like New York and California.
Past Blue Jays also won court cases recently that legitimized the methods they used to lower their tax obligations bringing greater clarity to how small the differences will be for future players.
The idea that there’s a huge difference is pretty much a myth at this point. The Blue Jays also have the ability to put in tax equalization clauses to further mitigate the difference.
Why do Americans think that there’s no way for baseball players to supplement their income in Canada? They have an entire country to a market themselves to. That shouldn’t be a secret anymore considering it was brought up repeatedly during their pursuit of Ohtani.
Because someone wrote it somewhere and then it was repeated so often it became a “fact” – there are no front runners for anyone – it’s all noise to get clicks
Airbender will be back? I’ll believe it when I see it.
There’s no reason he will be back as he’ll set-up for Bednar. He’s better off going to a team where he can close games and get paid to do so.
It depends on whether or not they also bring back Bichette. If they bring in Tucker and let Bichette walk it’s kind of a lateral move. Tucker may be a little bit better, but the difference between the two is not going to separate the Jays from the pack. They’ll have to do a fair bit more than just Tucker for that.
The Yankees want to bring back Williams, who was not very good for them?
I don’t believe it. Besides, I didn’t pick Williams for NYY in the contest so it can’t happen.
There really is no significant rumor. Even Rosenthal said he doesn’t expect Williams to return.
Williams was lights out in Milwaukee. But they were willing to move him out. He cant handle NY pressure. He can handle Milwaukee pressure. I would not sign that guy for big bucks. With some of these guys you look at the past and see big stats. But today and tomm matter more. He wants a big multi yr deal after a bad yr.
Milwaukee only moved him out because he was going to be a free agent at year’s end. And that whole thing about him not being able to pitch in New York is a myth. Like everyone says above, his underlying numbers were good. He just ran into some bad luck and ran hot and cold last year. He’s still a dominant reliever. All these teams wouldn’t be interested in him otherwise.
It’s not a myth. It happened. He sucked in NY.
Everyone who succeeds in NY can handle NY pressure, and everyone who fails can’t. Repeats that substituting any MLB city for NY and the statement will be equally true, or false, or neither.
To be fair, most of his underlying stats remained pretty much the same. It feels like there was a decent amount of bad luck involved during his New York tenure. His FIP was 2.68 last season. People often go to the argument that that players can’t handle the pressure of New York too quickly without actually looking into things properly.
Cash is just making sure the price for Williams is high. No Yankees interest, cheaper contract for the Sox or Jays
It feels good to be an Orioles fan and see big name free agents with the Orioles name mentioned as a possible landing place. I’m thinking 1 more outfielder, 2 starters, & 2 more bullpen pieces. One can only hope the team stays the way with our young core of players. We had some good times with what we had before last season.
Go O’s!
Same, just hearing that the reds or the pirates are in a conversation for a meaningful name feels good.
Tucker is going to the Orioles on an overpay…Book It !!!
Since you have your Son-of-a-b crystal ball out, what else do you see the Orioles doing this off season? I can’t wait for the Winter Meetings to begin.
Orioles sign Tucker and Cease. Win world series as their young guys all click.
There is no way the Orioles sign Tucker. It’s going to be in the neighborhood of 400 million dollars. I wouldn’t want them to spend that all on one player anyway, especially with needing a couple starters and bullpen pieces, as you mentioned. IF the Orioles bring on another major free agent that isn’t a pitcher, it’ll be Alonso (and that’s less likely now that they kept Mountcastle, unless traded)- the outfield group is pretty full with Ward, O’Neill, Cowser, Beavers, Jackson etc
They should bring in one of the top free agent starters, also go after Imai, and then get at least one high leverage bullpen arm. They can then trade or sign lesser coveted free agents than the major ones, to fill any additional needs from there. That would be a great offseason and still allow for deadline additions mid season.
Orioles are not where he is going.
While I agree and love the optimism, it is not happening. I have been fooled by this many times. Elias wants to prove how smart he is and the Os are now run like a private equity firm. Not a chance in the world the Os sign any free agent for even close to Tucker money.
You just know that Elias is eyeing a Ramon Urias reunion. That’ll be his big signing. Then Ramon can go back to blocking prospects.
The O’s who just traded for Ward? Nah, c’mon now, not happening.
Its Yankees, Mets, Dodgers. Every singel free agent at whatever price, the Dodgers will usually be in the bidding process.
For the love of Christ can the Yankees hire a friggin GM already.
Hal…we get it…you’ll never live up to your father so Cashman is the default owner because of your insecurities therefore inability to stay in the building for more than a couple hours. So why not just hire a GM since Cashman is busy running the entire organization? He’s the favorite son anyway so just turn it over and hire a dam GM. Billionaires sons are just the worst these days.
Cashman and Boone will remain, until they want to retire.
With Cash ensconced in the organization there’s little hope for his ouster unless he wants out…an alternative though would be for Hal to hire a good baseball guy as a consultant and use him to help evaluate any trades, or moves Cashman and his analytics department want ( you know a baseball guy who uses his eyes and ears rather than stats created to make negatives into positives) ,,,,even Cash would have to admit that many of his recent (last 5 years or so) additions or subtractions can be second guessed. Having a guy in-between Cash and Hal would allow Hal to hear a voice other than Cash’s on any moves involving putting the team in better stead to win a WS.
I can’t even be mad at Cashman anymore. Hal has him in a CEO type role where he literally is running the NY Yankees multi-billion dollar beast. There isn’t enough time in the day to do that and also go be a GM.
I’m a die hard Yanks fan since 1978 and I want to win badly every year. That being did, I wish my fellow Yankee fans would stfu about making changes to make changes. Cashman/Boone have the highest winning % of any other team since his hiring, second only to Dave Roberts. And can we stop over romanticizing the “Boss” era. Yes he had a passion to win but that passion resulted in a great 5 year span in the late 80s and them a horrible 15 year span as one of the worst ran teams in baseball. It’s not Cashman’s fault that Judge and others choked in recent playoffs history. Or that they’ve been unlucky with injuries. Winning isn’t easy and the only team consistently doing it now at the Dodgers who’s ownership personal wealth are a multiple of what Hal is worth. We have an ownership that, for the most part, will willingly spend, hundreds of millions every year to bring in talent. Cashman may not deserve more praise but he definitely deserves less blame. And Boone I feel can do the job if the players do their’s. Can’t blame postseason defensive lapses from guys that are generally considered good defenders (Jazz, Volpe, Judge, Cole) on Boone.
Having that high of a winning % with that payroll really isnt impressive. The money does a lot of the work for them. Boone is a figure head anyways i doubt he even sets lineups himself.
They should be the Dodgers of the AL but instead are just regular season warriors with major holes in every area of the roster but thats okay with you because theyre better than the Pirates. Goal post moving is fun aint it? Ahhh who cares about the World Series its all about regular season winning %!! foh
@Beg
Having that high of a winning % shows that over the span of a 162 games you’re team’s success is not a fluke. Can we agree that the GM can’t control whether a hitter hits in the post-season? Jazz, Beli, Grisham, Stanton, Wells, Rice and Volpe all posted .OPS under. 700 and Fried, Gil and Rondon couldn’t get past the 3rd inning. I’m not firing my GM nor manager because the players failed. Cashman did his job with what was available in the market at the deadline to address 3b and the pen and the team had a chance to go much further had their hitters not turned into garbage and his starters not failed to move up to their standards.
A GM controls what roster he sends into the postseason. A high winning % shows that theyre able to beat up on teams spending 1/3 of what they are but when they get spanked every post season its a reminder they cant beat actually good teams. If you gave me $300MM YEARLY to work with you’d see similar results lol
“Im not firing the GM nor manager because the players failed”
Buddy guess who put those players out on the field. Your takes are mind numbingly dumb, stop trying to reduce the GMs job down to “welp what are u gonna do its not their fault the team they assemble with nearly unlimited resources routinely fails!!”
@Beg
So please tell me what is Cashman to do to get Jazz Beli, Rice, Grisham, Stanton and Wells to hit like they did during the season or too he Fried, Rondon and Gil pass the 3rd inning in the post-season? I’ll wait…
Please tell you what he needs to do to get better players and allocate 300MM yearly more efficiently? The critique is the roster isnt good enough, not whatever youre trying to turn it into that is predicated on the idea that they are good enough, when theyre not. Rodon has been terrible in big games all year it was the least surprising thing ive ever seem.
You dont know ball buddy
Begamin
If you gave me $300MM YEARLY to work with you’d see similar results lol
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I always say the same thing. With the usual assessments of guys like Preller, DD, and Cashman, the baseline cannot be a .500 record. A more fair assessment is how does the average W/L ranking compare to their average payroll ranking.
If you are usually the #5 spending team, for example, then you should be ~ #5 in wins.
Joe, agreed. The average person could throw enough money at top names in the league with 300MM yearly and put together a team that succeeds in the regular season. Somehow having it be bogged down by huge, terrible contracts for over a decade and misallocating the money to the point where $300MM doesnt feel like enough is a huge indicator that the current GM is making a lot of mistakes
exactly. how many World Series have they won under Cashman, with teams that he truly built, not teams he just happened to be there, which were built by Gene Michael and bob Watson. Only one actually, in many years. And with a $300 million payroll every year, the results in the postseason should be better. anyone with among the highest payrolls in the sport every year would have a good winning percentage during the regular season. So Cashman has nothing to brag about. and sometimes you just need to make a change, Cashman is the longest running GM in the sport over 25 years. He’s been there.
“Winning isn’t easy”… this is very,very true.
I have no opinion, at all, about the Yankees front office, but
most FO’s would be better off if they kept that in mind when they make a transaction.
Yanks ….well said buddy … This kid makes me really miss and appreciate old Big George even more so than ever win at all cost! We make more and winning fixes everything!!!! This guy wants to do it on a budget so it looks good on paper or whatever his reason is . That’s what people don’t understand about the dodgers they know winning fixes everything they have huge fan bases here and Japan and the Yankees did the same thing B4 . I will never understand how owners buy a team and winning means zero. It’s all about money smh
Devin didn’t work out last season, move on and get other relievers instead. I’m pretty sure Yankees aren’t getting Tucker, Bellinger is the guy they will realistically pursue.
Across I agree bellie fits with Yankees…. Tucker no fault of his wasn’t 100 percent healthy from early June not sure if he was 100 percent healthy all year …I would not pay that for him is he good yes very good but let Toronto or anyone else pay him keep bellie and use the left over cash on pitching
Yup, let the Blue Jays, Mets or Dodgers pay Tucker his high price tag. Cubs can use that money on another starter.
Tucker would be perfect in Baltimore plus it will help spread out the star player love so they aren’t all amassed on two or three teams. Rubinstein ready to spend some dough and this time Elias will be signing the contracts and getting deals done. They will likely sign one of the top three starters as well, my guess is Valdez. And a closer. Even though I’m a Mariners fan would love to see it happen. More fanbases deserve to have teams that spend
Thanks from an Orioles fan and part time Mariners fan (my son lives in Redmond WA). My thoughts are Michael Arougheti who is the next man in the ownership group behind Rubinstein was a fantasy baseball guy. Now he is doing it live since he can’t play fantasy baseball any longer. From what I see in Aroughti I like. Hell he bought a round of drinks for us fans before the 2024 season on opening day. Can’t not like a guy for putting suds in my mug. Even though I don’t drink I did get a Coke on his tab.
Samuel’s not going to be happy about having a fantasy baseball guy in the ownership group. Or as he calls it, ‘Rotisserie League,’ lol.
Orioles can keep Tucker and I mean that in a nice way. Rubenstein did say he wanted to win so he’d be a big star to add to a team that’s looking to reset after last season.
Wonder if the Yankees would swing a deal with the cards for donovan and or noot with Dominguez going the other way. Obviously other pieces would be involved on either side but could totally see them matching up
If the Yankees sign Bellinger, Nootbar and to a lesser extent, Donovan, wouldn’t fit as they’re both lefty bats and the Yankees are already lefty heavy.
@Joe
Why would the Yanks sign two more OF? Why would they sign Nootbar, who suffers to hit left- handers just as badly as Dominguez? At least with Dominguez you’re yakking about a 22 yo with only a year under his belt which would make you hope he’ll get better.
Agreed….this Nootbar guy have been rumored to be on the trade list of the Cards for the last couple of years….the Yankees don’t need the Cards garbage when we have a ver serviceable Martian to compete for a job or be used as a trade chip to secure relief or starting pitching……besides…I would bet that the Cards try attaching their untraceable 3rd baseman in the deal….the Yankees definitely don’t want or need him…..
How can they afford making the same mistake twice?
It’s what they do best.
No wonder!
Maybe they don’t really want Williams back but it’s in everybody’s interest to pretend that they do. The Yankees signaling that they’ll always support a player’s next career move no matter how badly their time with the team works out.
I’ve been a Yankees fan a very long time, and most of that they’ve offered a good on the field experience and even sprinkled a few championships in there, I’m not going to criticize their willingness to spend. But they have a habit of making the same FO mistakes year after year–older players past their peak, stifling the occasional prospect by sticking him behind those players, trading or signing players who should be better than they actually perform, and bringing back players who didn’t perform well. They need fresh blood both in roster and in thinking,
What’s your stance on Boone?
Without knowing what the clubhouse dynamic is, hard to be certain, but he does make a number of bewildering choices, especially with the bullpen.
Boone 🥰❤️❤️❤️
Nobody stifles prospects like Elias.
@mike
What older players “past their peak” have they signed for multiple years, so not guys like Goldy or guys like Rizzo or DJ who they signed because we didn’t have an or internal farm option. What rookies pathway to the majors has Cashman blocked??? Lol at all the rookies he brought up over the last 8 years. Judge, Volpe, Wells, Gil, Schmidt, Rice, Dominguez or traded for young players under control like Jazz, Grisham, etc. I think it’s unfair to say Cashman, in recent years, has signed over the hill guys. According to most fans, he was suppose to sign guys like Bregman, Alonso, Santander etc
Cash routinely blocks prospects he doesnt believe in favor of vets. Stop having selective memory please, because youre constantly wrong on here. Trotting Hicks out there instead of any top OF prospect (Frazier, Florial for example), signing Drury to block Andujar just for Andujar to get lucky and play anyways, just for Cash to get another guy to take Andujars job and send him to the OF for him to tear his shoulder. Thairo Estrada got sent away for nothing. King was relegated to the pen because no rotation spot for him. Clogging 3B with Josh Donaldson. Grisham to block Jones JUST happened too.
Theres always guys Cash is stubborn about, whether its he believes in them too much or not at all, stop pretending he doesnt do this.
Jones isn’t ready yet for The Show. Grish is only signed for one-year. That hardly qualifies as a block.
In what way is he not ready for the show? Dudes 25 ffs. And its most definitely a block, regardless of contract length. When Cash signed Drury to block Andujar it wasnt a long term nor expensive deal, still tried to block him. Contract length is a non factor when considering what is and isnt blocking a prospect from a MLB roster spot
I’d love to have Jones up but his high strikeout at 37% strikeout rate in 300 AAA plate appearances does not inspire confidence yet. That’s Joey Gallo-like without his propensity for walks. Andujar and Florial both struck out too much at AAA to be useful at the MLB level.
Andujar just posted a 125 OPS+ btw. Joey Gallo had a similar .OPS his last year in AAA to Spencer Jones btw. Prime Joey Gallo-lite on a rookie contract is MLB ready enough. Suggesting to keep him down until hes 26+ is silly
I say BS. I don’t think for a minute Yanks re-sign him. He was the impetus first the beard rule and then sucked. Get outta here with that. Take that energy across town.
If Diaz doesn’t re-sign, that could be a great landing spot for him.
The Yankees spend a lot but don’t spend it wisely.
So many of their missteps missing on free agents who would cost huge money, and settling for the second or third best options that also cost big money can be tied to the ill-fated acquisition of Stanton and his bloated contract….he was brought in to win a WS, and his first 2 years in pinstripes were MVP calibre…however what Cash should have done when they didn’t make it to the WS was sell high on Stanton and rid himself of the contract dollars he had to know was going to shape what and where he could acquire top talent for years to come….hence no WS title since 09…..
Our farm system is hot garbage
@Rick
You mean the one that’s produced Dominguez, Gil, Schmidt, Volpe, Wells, Cortez, Rice, Warren and Schlittler of late and was instrumental in getting is Williams and Jazz? They have at least 4 or 5 interesting arms between A+-AA.
Michael King came from that system too
Top arm system players are not guaranteed top major league players…..with the Yankees making the playoffs 95% of the time, 95% of the time they are picking at the very rear of the round….do you think those teams picking at the end of the round have a better track record?…..I would kind of doubt that….secondly, the Yankees have a tremendous amount of players playing around the league who came through the Yankee system…maybe not all superstars but solid ballplayers all the same…..
Seriously doubt the NYY spend $15M for Williams to be a 7th/8th inning guy.
He’s not a closer. He’s a choker. Middle reliever at best.
He’s going to be a closer again soon, so deal with it.
…not a belly itch’er?
Of course he’s a closer; just not for NY.
Maybe…but his go to best pitch is a changeup….unconventional to say the least but he really is a 2 pitch pitcher….fastball and changeup……and his fast ball doesn’t scare anyone….for him, it seems all about location which was very sketchy the first half of last year……
Williams thinks too much. It’s worth noting that his biggest trouble was the first month with a 10.03 ERA, suggesting he had trouble adapting to NY. And the three weeks surrounding the trade deadline with a 10.38. That suggests to me he’s just thinking too much.
The period after the break-in and post TDL were great, with a 1.90 and a 2.50. IMHO, if he signed a cheap-ish 3-year contract with a one-year opt-out, with a team like the Reds or Pirates, he might be an AS from day 1.
I sure hope the Yanks pass on Tucker
My brother and I agree he is way over rated and not worth what Borass wants for him
I’d bring Weaver before I brought back Williams.
Weaver seems to want to convert back to starting, and he also had a bad habit of tipping his pitches and frankly couldn’t figure out how not to even after he knew he was…..that being said, the Yankees got rid of 5 members of their bullpen yesterday….maybe they have plans for either or both as serviceable pieces of the 26 Yankee bullpen.
Speaking of closers, would not be surprised to see the Astros trade Josh Hader (3/$57) if they were offered a star OF’er or SP for him, plus a shot in the arm of prospects for a team that needs them.
They won’t get anything for him. He pitched poorly in July-Aug, and finished the year on the IL.
typical Cashman noncommittal ambiguous response. They were on everybody, they may spend the money they may not depending on the circumstances. Doesn’t tell you anything and what will they actually do who knows?