Devin Williams, the New York Yankees’ new star closer, has secured a one-year, $8.6 million contract for the 2025 MLB season.
As reported by ESPN’s Jorge Castillo and shared by RotoWire Staff (via CBS Sports), the Yankees finalized the deal on Thursday, avoiding an arbitration hearing this winter.
Williams joined the Yankees on December 13 in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, who still had him under team control for another year at the time of the trade.
Williams is receiving more than $1 million more than under the previous agreement.
The Missouri native played for $7.25 million in 2024, but his next $8.6 million paycheck is better than that amount. With the Yankees poised to win their first World Series since 2009, he will have the chance to play for more than just the previous dollar number.
Last season, Williams played just 22 games. Despite this, he managed to have a perfect 1.25 ERA and a higher strikeout average per game (1.72 Ks) than he had in his previous two seasons. The 30-year-old dominated the major leagues in both the 2022 and 2023 seasons, recording a total of 183 strikeouts in 126 games pitched, a 1.73 cumulative ERA, and a scorching 0.964 cumulative WHIP.
Yankees: If Williams has a fantastic season in 2026, he can cash out.
Williams has won two National League Reliever of the Year titles thanks to this kind of play, both in 2020 and in that same 2023 campaign. He is considered by many to be one of the best closers in Major League Baseball, if not the best. If he performs up to par for the Yankees in the Bronx, New York, next season, he should be eligible for a huge long-term contract in unrestricted free agency the following year.
