Devin Williams May Have Thrown His Last Pitch For The Milwaukee Brewers

[Jake McKibbin]

Despite Thursday night's performance, the fact remains that Devin Williams is a truly elite closer in today’s game. Will he be playing in Milwaukee colors next season?

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

That was not the ending anyone would have wanted. Under the highest pressure on the biggest stage, Devin Williams' mojo faltered, and the Milwaukee Brewers 2024 ambitions slammed to a halt with it. An ignominious ending for a player in the conversation for the best reliever in Brewers history, it doesn’t change the likelihood of what’s in store for Williams.

The sad fact is that relievers are baseball's most volatile, unpredictable element. The usually limited arsenal of pitches in their repertoire means that if they lose the feel for one pitch, they’ll struggle to get through a section of hitters. As such, expensive relievers do not stick around for too long, especially for a Milwaukee Brewers franchise that works on the edge of margins.

Devin Williams is entering his final year of arbitration with a $10.5 million club option for 2025, which makes him quite an expensive commodity. He has won NL Reliever of the Year on three separate occasions while armed with a devastating changeup (or, more accurately, screwball) and a deceptively elite four-seam fastball that makes him one of the most dominant closers in baseball. He went back-to-back nights closing out against Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman:

This is an asset that someone will pay a lot for, and the Brewers almost certainly won’t turn it down for a reliever. The 2022 Josh Hader trade still lingers in many fans' memories, but the value collected from that trade has been immense. I believe Williams may bring back an even more significant return.

Josh Hader struggled with performance for an entire month leading up to his trade, allowing 12 runs in six appearances over 4 ⅓ innings, struggles that continued with San Diego that season. Williams has been consistently dominant since his Rookie of the Year victory in 2020, with a career 1.83 ERA in the regular season, a 1.02 WHIP, and 14.32 strikeouts per nine. One lousy outing will not be detrimental to his value in a material way, and the Brewers will be facing gaps in their infield mix that they’ll need to address. Williams being traded would be the perfect way to do so, and he’ll have no shortage of suitors.

Filling Devin Williams's shoes will be no easy task as the Brewers attempt to wreak yet more devil magic on their bullpen this offseason, but the value on the trade market, with big clubs like the Yankees and Cubs desperate for a dominant closer, makes a trade seem inevitable. 

With the way Milwaukee operates in a small market, they can't afford to hold valuable assets into their prime. Relievers are volatile, and screwballs/changeups like Williams tend to put a lot of stress on the shoulder and elbow of a pitcher. There's no guarantee of an injury-free season should he stay, and Craig Yoho and his wiffle changeup-sinker-slider are waiting in the wings to add punch to the back end of the bullpen.

Milwaukee's greatest closer has likely thrown his last pitch in a way no one would have foreseen, but for all the quality Williams has brought as a reliever, he should be revered for more than just his most recent outing.  He's earned that much and more for his time in Milwaukee.

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[SF70]

Take the best deal you can get because it’s time to move on. Megill can close, and they have so much fire power coming back it’s almost comical.

Megill-Payamps (trade?)-Koenig-Mears-Uribe-Milner (trade?)-Peguero (trade?)-Bukauskas-Yoho-Wilson (trade?)-Rea (trade?)-Ashby (rotation?)-Hall (rotation?)-Z-Misiorowski (late season). 
 

Besides we need the money savings for next year‘s payroll to put together the best team possible under our budget conditions.

[Doug B]

We will remember Williams just like Hader. Great for several years, but collapsed when we needed him in a big moment. 

[BillMilton]

"Collapsed when we needed him," also Knebel and Jeffress.

[Jim French Stepstool]

It's uncommon to be in a position of a small-market team that has an elite talent in their last contract year, and has many able options available for that guys' role. No guarantees whether any of them reach Williams' level, but you probably don't need them to for a trade to make sense.

Some might be a little underwhelmed with the return, but it probably should/will happen.

[Samurai Bucky]

I wonder if Williams wasn't fully recovered from the stress fractures in his back.  He has more issues in back-to-back save opportunities since he came back.  Maybe the reason we don't know is because he didn't want to use it as an excuse.

[LouisEly]

He absolutely has played his last game as a Brewer.  He's not the locker room leader that Adames is which is why they didn't trade Adames.  Add that to the baggage from blowing the save at home in the playoffs and he's gone.

One year of one of the best relievers in the game plus a likely comp pick will bring back decent value.