MLB Rumors: NY Yankees To Make Huge Move with Devin Williams

After blowing a 2-1 lead Prime Yankees offseason acquisition Devin Williams appears to have lost his closer's job

That was the final straw. After blowing a 2-1 lead in the 9th inning to the Toronto Blue Jays by surrendering three runs on two hits and a hit batter, prime NY Yankees offseason acquisition Devin Williams appears to have lost his closer's job.

Williams has an 11.25 ERA and a 2.37 WHIP in 10 appearances this season, and Friday night's performance might have been the worst of them. He didn't record a single out and threw only five strikes in 12 pitches.

Andy Martino of SNY is reporting that from the postgame comments of manager Aaron Boone, it appears that Williams will be moved to a lower-leverage role—at least for the time being.

The Yankee fans who chanted 'We want [Luke] Weaver' as Devin Williams struggled on Friday night might get their wish. The bet here is that Williams will be taking a break from his job as the team’s closer.

“We’ll kind of talk through this stuff. This is raw right now," said Boone to the assembled media after the game. "We want to do everything we can to get him right, because we know how good he is and how valuable he is going to be to us.”

But Martino knows 'Boone-speak' when he hears it, and can read between the lines.

"We’ve seen Boone on the job for too many years to be ignorant of his press conference tells. There is almost no way he would offer that answer if he hadn’t already decided to give Williams a break from save situations," concluded Martino.

Devin Williams to lose closer's role for Yankees

Williams has lost a full mile per hour off his fastball from last season, and his command has been the worst of his career, with an 8:7 K/BB ratio in 8 innings. The lack of command, in particular, has the 30-year-old flummoxed.

“Truthfully, I don’t know,” Williams said. “It’s something I have been battling for most of the season, so it’s getting pretty frustrating.”

Williams has a career 2.14 ERA with 72 saves, all but three of them over the past three years with the Milwaukee Brewers. Last season, injuries kept him out of a large chunk of the campaign, but when he did pitch, he recorded a minuscule 1.25 ERA with 14 saves in 21.2 innings, with 0.96 WHIP.

New York acquired him in a big trade with the Brewers back in December, for left-hander Nestor Cortes and elite prospect Caleb Durbin.

The Yankees will most certainly be moving Weaver into the closer's role for now. He held the job through the end of the season and the playoffs last year, and performed very well in the gig.