.jpg)
17 hours ago
1
•
The New York Yankees are building toward a win-now 2025 season.
After falling short of the 28th World Series championship in franchise history in 2024, the Yankees have added veteran southpaw Max Fried, former Most Valuable Player Award winners Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt and several others.
And while the team is loading up toward another World Series run for next season, at least one of the Yankees’ biggest additions might land a major payday elsewhere for 2026 and beyond.
Writing for FanSided’s Call To The Pen, Michael McDermott named two-time All-Star closer Devin Williams a “dark horse” candidate among pitchers “who could command $100+ million contracts.”
In one of their biggest moves this winter, the Yankees traded starter Nestor Cortes and infielder Caleb Durbin to the Milwaukee Brewers for Williams. Williams is entering his final year of arbitration eligibility in 2025, so he’s relatively affordable. But after that, he might command one of the largest contracts for a reliever in baseball history.
“Devin Williams will be the top free agent reliever on the market if the Yankees cannot extend him,” McDermott added. “He’ll be gunning to get a contract in a similar ballpark to what Josh Hader ($95 million) or Edwin Díaz ($102 million) got in their trips in free agency. If he can put together another strong season in New York, he’ll have equally as strong a track record as those two closers.”
At this point in his career, Williams does have similar credentials to those of Hader and Díaz. In six big-league seasons, Williams has maintained a 1.83 ERA with 68 total saves and two National League Reliever of the Year Awards. In his first six seasons, Hader had a 2.71 ERA with 132 total saves and Díaz had a 3.23 ERA with 173 total saves.
But Williams’ most recent outing might raise some concerns. After opening the year on the injured list, he posted a strong regular season before giving up four earned runs in 1.2 playoff innings against the New York Mets. Similarly, in 0.2 playoff innings in 2023, he gave up two earned runs.
If Williams can bounce back to post another strong season in 2025 including a dominant high-leverage performance in a potential Yankees playoff run, he could be in line for a nine-figure contract going forward.
More MLB: Yankees two-time Silver Slugger predicted to make $25 million return in 2026
Peter Chawaga is a veteran journalist covering Major League Baseball for The Sporting News. His MLB reporting has included feature interviews with commissioner Rob Manfred and Hall of Fame slugger David Ortiz, salary analysis, player rankings and more. He has covered baseball for Forbes, Yardbarker, Pitcher List, Athlon and other outlets.
With over ten years of newsroom experience, he has previously covered finance, technology, arts, and culture for newspapers, magazines, and websites nationwide. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in English and journalism.
English (US)