Williams thrilled Yankees ‘snuck in’ to land him
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
Devin Williams knew he was getting traded. He was just caught by surprise on the destination.
Williams, 30, spent Tuesday being introduced as the newest member of the New York Yankees, ending a whirlwind set of rumors that had him potentially landing on the other coast.
“I kind of thought I’d be going to L.A.,” Williams, 30, said. “That was what I was being told and the Yankees snuck in there under the table and got the deal done.”
The All-Star closer is an impending free agent and understood he’d likely be too expensive to stay in Milwaukee. He saw plenty of rumors, but it wasn’t until his agent called that he knew he was dealt for left-hander Nestor Cortes, prospect Caleb Durbin and cash.
So, instead of joining the World Series-champion Dodgers, Williams landed on the team the Dodgers defeated for the title. He will bolster a Yankees bullpen that has so far lost Clay Holmes to free agency and could have two more key pieces — Tommy Kahnle and Tim Hill — sign elsewhere this winter.
While Yankees manager Brian Cashman last week said Williams’ role will be up to manager Aaron Boone, the right-hander with a devastating changeup known as “The Airbender” figures to slide into the closer slot that Luke Weaver, a breakout star in 2024, filled in September and through the postseason.
“I’m excited for it, man,” Williams said. “They obviously have a long history with Mariano, Aroldis. Those guys, they’ve been the best of the best. And I’m just trying to add my name to that list, hopefully. But I think it’ll be good for me. I’m someone who, I thrive off the energy. I can feed off the fans.”
Williams became the Brewers’ closer in July 2022 after the club traded All-Star closer Josh Hader. He finished the year — his first as an All-Star — with a 1.93 ERA and 15 saves. In 2023, his first full season as a closer, Williams was an All-Star again and recorded a 1.53 ERA with 36 saves across 61 appearances. He then missed the first four months of the 2024 season with a stress fracture in his back before returning in late July, pitching a 1.25 ERA with 14 saves and a 43.2% strikeout rate in 22 games.
His season — and Brewers tenure — concluded in disappointment when he surrendered four runs in the ninth inning in the decisive Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series against the New York Mets, including a go-ahead three-run home run to Pete Alonso on his vaunted changeup.
Williams said he takes a vacation abroad after most seasons. After the Brewers’ early playoff exit in October, however, he decided to stay in the United States, and coincidentally spent 10 days in New York City. He visited The Museum of Modern Art and the American Museum of Natural History. He enjoyed the restaurant scene. Ten days, he realized, wasn’t enough to complete his tourist checklist.
He’ll now have more time to explore the city. The question is whether his time in New York will stretch beyond 2025. Williams, a free agent next offseason, said he is an option to a contract extension.
“I think if it’s right for both sides, that’s definitely always an option,” Williams said. “Nothing has been discussed up until now so I can’t really comment too much on that.”
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Jeff Passan, Senior MLB Insider
The New York Yankees acquired outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger in a trade with the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, continuing to stock up on high-end talent in the wake of outfielder Juan Soto‘s free agent defection to the New York Mets, sources told ESPN.
In the deal, the Yankees will receive $5 million to offset Bellinger’s salary — he will make $27.5 million in 2025 and has a player option for $25 million in 2026 — and will send right-hander Cody Poteet to the Cubs, sources said.
Bellinger, 29, is a former National League MVP whose father, Clay, played for the Yankees from 1999 to 2001. His return to form after three substandard seasons came in 2023 with the Cubs, and he agreed to a three-year, $80 million free agent contract with Chicago in March.
After hitting .266/.325/.426 with 18 home runs and 78 RBIs this year, Bellinger declined to opt out of the rest of his deal. Chicago will pay $2.5 million to cover part of Bellinger’s $27.5 million salary this season. The remaining $2.5 million will either cover the contract buyout if Bellinger does not exercise his player option or go toward his $25 million salary in 2026, according to a source.
New York’s acquisition of Bellinger follows the free agent signing of left-handed starter Max Fried and the trade for All-Star closer Devin Williams. Coming off a World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Yankees have spent the week since Soto’s signing fortifying themselves for another run.
Bellinger’s versatility fits perfectly to fill holes in New York’s lineup. He is an above-average center fielder and can either play there or in left field if the Yankees prefer to use rookie Jasson Dominguez in center. He also is a top defensive first baseman, and while Anthony Rizzo‘s free agency opened the position, New York could opt for an in-house option in Ben Rice or pursue Pete Alonso or Christian Walker in free agency.
At his best, Bellinger is a middle-of-the-lineup force whose bat-to-ball skills should help buttress the loss of Soto. When he won the MVP as a 24-year-old in 2019, Bellinger hit .305/.406/.629 with 47 home runs. Over his eight-year career, he has batted .259/.334/.484 with 196 home runs and 597 RBIs in 1,005 games.
The Cubs had spent the winter seeking a trade partner for Bellinger, looking to free up payroll in hopes of improving a team that went 83-79 this year. The teams spent significant time haggling over the amount of money the Cubs would include in a potential deal.
Ultimately, they settled on the $5 million figure and the 30-year-old Poteet, who started four games for the Yankees this year. In 24⅓ innings, Poteet struck out 16, walked eight and posted a 2.22 ERA. In three major league seasons split between starting and relieving, Poteet has a 3.80 ERA with 69 strikeouts, 35 walks and 13 home runs allowed in 83 innings.
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Jeff Passan, Senior MLB Insider
Right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano and the Baltimore Orioles have agreed to a contract, the team announced Monday night, uniting one of the most successful Japanese pitchers of his generation with a team in need of rotation help. The deal is for one year and $13 million, sources told ESPN.
The 35-year-old Sugano — a two-time winner of the Sawamura Award, Nippon Professional Baseball’s equivalent of the Cy Young Award — nearly came to Major League Baseball after the Yomiuri Giants posted him in December 2020. He never signed, returned to the Giants and performed almost as well this year as in his Sawamura-winning 2017 and 2018 seasons.
In 24 starts this year, Sugano went 15-3 with a 1.67 ERA. Over 156 ⅔ innings, he struck out 111, walked only 16 and allowed six home runs. Though Sugano’s fastball sits around 92 mph, nearly two-thirds of his pitches this year were off-speed — a mixture of a slider, cutter, curveball and split-fingered fastball.
Baltimore has canvassed the free agent market for pitching this winter, looking to solidify its rotation with Corbin Burnes reaching free agency and right-handers Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells returning from reconstructive elbow surgeries. The Orioles head into 2025 after back-to-back postseason appearances with a rotation that includes Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer and now Sugano.
Baltimore’s efforts to re-sign Burnes have not abated, sources said, but the price is expected to land well beyond Chris Davis’ $161 million contract — the largest free agent deal in franchise history. The Orioles were purchased by private equity titan David Rubenstein in August after six consecutive seasons in which the team’s Opening Day payroll ranked 26th or lower among MLB’s 30 teams.
Between Sugano’s deal and the three-year, $49.5 million contract for outfielder Tyler O’Neill, the Orioles’ 2025 payroll is estimated to be around $110 million. The pitching market has proven hot in the early parts of free agency, from the top of the market (Max Fried, $218 million) to the one-year tier (Alex Cobb, $15 million).
Sugano enters his 13th season and will play in a Camden Yards that will be less pitcher-friendly than last season. The Orioles will move the left-field wall, where home runs often went to die, by as much as 20 feet in some places. Sugano has been a heavy groundball pitcher for most of his career and induced 51.1% ground balls this year.
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