Brian Cashman reveals Yankees have been trying to acquire Devin Williams for ‘years’

Brian Cashman reveals Yankees have been trying to acquire Devin Williams for ‘years’

The New York Yankees made a slam-dunk addition to the back of their bullpen Friday, acquiring closer Devin Williams from the Milwaukee Brewers in a three-player swap that included Nestor Cortes Jr. and infielder Caleb Durbin.

We graded the deal here: We conclude that the Yankees won the deal, though it’s difficult to really get an idea until at least a couple of years from now when the dust settles.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke to reporters about the trade Friday, revealing an intriguing detail about the team’s pursuit of the dominant reliever.

“We’ve been talking to Milwaukee for what feels like years, seemingly every offseason and spring training and trade deadline,” Cashman said, according to WFAN’s Lou DiPietro. “Nice to finally find a match.

“He has a swing-and-miss, gets soft contact, ground balls, and he’s been consistent for quite some time now. And he’s not afraid of the big stage, so we’re looking forward to adding him into the mix. He’s a year away from free agency, but he’s someone we’ve tried to acquire for a number of years.”

After signing Max Fried to an eight-year deal earlier this week, the Yankees had more flexibility to either add to its lineup or bullpen with multiple starting arms becoming expendable, including Cortes.

Luckily for both sides, Cortes and Williams are both entering their final season of arbitration and are expected to the same amount, according to Spotrac’s projections. Another reason why it was likely a better price for Cashman to pursue was Williams coming off an injury-plagued 2024 season, appearing in just 22 games with a back fracture.

He was just as dominant as he’s been since the start of 2020. It was in a much smaller sample, however. You factor those two things together and you find yourselves landing a dominant reliever at an ideal price. It was very good business from New York’s perspective–adding to a clear strength: pitching and run prevention–with Cortes needing a change of scenery.

“My job is to import as many quality players as I can, and all I care about is closing the game down and shortening it; who is doing it and when is for the manager and coaching staff to decide,” Cashman said. “There’s some vacancy (in the bullpen), and we like what we have on the roster, but we have to give Aaron Boone and Matt Blake more options. We believe we’re better now than we were earlier today.”

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