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Yankees Trade Target has been finalized whom is eager to begin training with squad after discussion were held formal
What would it take to get the Airbender in the Bronx
Only days after signing Rhys Hoskins to a two-year deal — seemingly a signal of the team’s intentions to contend in 2024 — the Brewers shocked the baseball world by trading ace Corbin Burnes to the Orioles for Joey Ortiz, DL Hall, and a 2024 Competitive Balance Round A draft pick (34th overall). They may still have a shot at a division crown in a weak NL Central, but further reports emerging out of Milwaukee appear to support fears of a mini selloff.
The Brewers have a pair of impact players close to free agency — shortstop Willy Adams and closer Devin Williams — who they could look to deal to restock a middling farm system with upper-level talent behind uber-prospect Jackson Chourio, and Williams is the caliber of reliever who could vault the Yankees’ bullpen to the top of the heap around the league.
2023 Statistics: 61 games, 58.2 IP, 1.53 ERA (282 ERA+), 2.66 FIP, 2.79 xFIP, 37.7 percent K%, 12.1 percent BB%, 1.8 fWAR
2024 FanGraphs Depth Charts Projections: 66 games, 66IP, 3.05 ERA, 3.34 FIP, 34.1 percent K%, 11.1 percent BB%, 1.3 fWAR
Contract Status: Signed a one-year, $7.25 million contract to avoid arbitration in 2024. Will make $7 million in 2024, contract contains a team option for 2025 worth $10.5 million with a $250,000 buyout. Scheduled to become a free agent following 2025 season.
It doesn’t matter how you slice it — since his breakout in 2020, Williams has been the best reliever in baseball. His 6.8 fWAR and 1.75 ERA both rank first among qualified pitchers over that span while his 40.5 percent strikeout rate trails only Edwin Díaz and 2.26 FIP trailing only Díaz and Matt Brash. What’s more, his Statcast page is deep red.
Williams burst onto the scene winning NL Rookie of the Year in 2020 on the back of an impressive 0.33 ERA, 0.86 FIP COVID-shortened campaign. He followed it up with an impressive sophomore season that unfortunately ended on a sour note, the reliever drunkenly punching a wall during the team’s celebration of clinching the division. A broken hand meant the Brewers were without their standout setup man, and were bounced out of the NLDS by the Braves in four games, a go-ahead home run by Freddie Freeman off Josh Hader in an eighth inning that should have belonged to Williams sealing the series. To his credit, Williams rebounded from that personal disappointment to make the All-Star team in back-to-back seasons, picking up his second Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year Award in 2023.
Several times over the last year, we’ve highlighted unicorn pitchers on the Yankees and around the league, and there is perhaps no pitch in baseball that fits the label ‘unicorn’ better than Williams’ changeup. Williams’ change is different from any other around the league in that he pronates viciously over the top, giving it a spin rate that can push as high as 3,000 RPM — almost double your average changeup. Think of the pitch as a screwball or a reverse slider, its intense spin gives the pitch wicked movement — it exhibited the most horizontal movement vs. average of any changeup in baseball in 2023 while also placing in the top-ten in vertical movement.
