Yankees Former Closer Clay Holmes Considering Career Change?

Clay Holmes is a two-time All-Star as a closer, with 74 saves in the last three years for the New York Yankees. But he lost the job in September as journeyman starter Luke Weaver was installed and held the job right through the playoffs.

Is Holmes now ready to pull a Weaver in reverse, and revert to being a starter? According to insider Jon Heyman, plus a report from Will Sammon, Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal in The Athletic, several teams are interested in the free agent now as a starting pitcher.

The Mets are among a few teams interested in signing Clay Holmes and making him a starting pitcher, per @JonHeyman pic.twitter.com/wBW3Cacati
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) December 2, 2024

The New York Mets are among those interested in converting Holmes to the rotation.

He apparently hasn't made any decision on that front yet, but the move has been a successful one recently for other former relievers such as Seth Lugo, Reynaldo López and Jordan Hicks, just in the past couple of seasons.

As noted by Rosenthal et al:

Over his career as a reliever, Holmes has a 3.52 ERA and is a two-time All-Star. However, his use of three pitches (sinker, slider, sweeper) has some teams interested in what he could do as a starter. Holmes has thrown at least 60 innings in each of the last four seasons but has never logged more than 70, his total in 2021.

The 31-year-old Holmes sounds like he has a decent market in free agency.