The Brewers have declined the $10.5 million club option on closer Devin Williams, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Williams will receive a $250,000 buyout and remain under team control for the 2025 season via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting that he will earn $7.7 million in his final season before free agency.
The move doesn’t come as a surprise considering the Brewers would save about $2.5 million by declining Williams’ option. The 30-year-old might have been able to have a season in which he played well enough to justify picking up that option had he been healthy, but multiple stress fractures in his back left Williams unable to play until late July of this year. Once on the mound again, Williams has been nothing short of his dominant self with an impressive 1.25 ERA and 2.06 FIP in his 22 appearances during the regular season this year. In his limited playing time this season, Williams posted his typical high walk rate of 12.5%, but he made up for that as usual with a blazing strikeout rate that has outstripped 43.2% of opponents this year.
Although these numbers may seem impressive, they are generally not a product of sample size. Williams has been among the best relievers the sport has ever seen since bursting through the shortened 2020 season to win the NL Rookie of the Year award, finish seventh in NL Cy Young Award voting, and even be considered the down-ballot MVP. .
Since that incredible year, Williams has pitched to a 1.70 ERA that is 248% better than league average by ERA+ in 222 innings of work. That is the second-best ERA in baseball among qualified relievers over the past five years, second only to Emmanuel Claes. Meanwhile, Williams’ 2.24 FIP ranks third behind only Edwin Diaz and Matt Brach, and his 40.8% strikeout rate ranks second behind Diaz.
As one of the best players in baseball over the past half-decade, Williams has played a vital role in Milwaukee’s success in recent years, especially following the departure of Josh Hader at the 2022 trade deadline. While that may make it difficult for the club to replace Williams in 2025 and beyond, but the Brewers managed to remain successful in 2024 even after Corbin Burns was traded to the Orioles last winter. Considering that the first half of 2024 showed that the Brewers were more than capable of surviving without Williams thanks to stellar performances by Trevor Miguel, Brian Hudson, Jared Koenig and Joel Payamps in the bullpen, it wouldn’t be surprising if Williams finds himself dealt at some point. This winter. MLBTR ranked Williams fourth on our latest list of the top 35 offseason trade candidates, and even the club’s general manager Matt Arnold acknowledged last month that the Brewers would need to stay “open-minded” about the possibility of shipping Williams elsewhere this winter.
Of course, this does not mean that the trade is foolproof. Even when the Brewers parted ways with Burns, they decided to keep shortstop Willie Adams for his final season of controlling the team. Adames is expected to decline a qualifying offer and sign elsewhere this winter, but his resurgent 4.8-fWAR campaign proved crucial to the club’s offense all year as the Brewers claimed their second straight NL Central title. If Williams’ offers aren’t enticing enough or the club decides Williams is too important to the club’s winning hopes in 2025 to part ways with him, it’s certainly possible he could remain with the club for its final trip through arbitration before free agency.
