All things considered, it's been a pretty solid start to the season for the New York Yankees. While the spring was marred by significant injuries to pitchers Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil as well as infielder DJ LeMahieu and DH Giancarlo Stanton, New York has managed to rally the troops, riding Aaron Judge, Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt to a 15-10 record through 25 games that has them atop the AL East.
But while the offense has been clicking, and Max Fried has looked every bit the ace the team hoped it was acquiring last winter, it hasn't all been sunshine and roses. There are still some big names who haven't lived up to their billing just yet — especially closer Devin Williams.
Acquired in a deal with the Milwaukee Brewers in December, Williams was part of the Yankees' post-Juan Soto pivot, an attempt to win games by shortening them if New York couldn't outslug people with Soto in the lineup. The logic was sound; Williams has been one of the game's best relievers over the last few years. But he hasn't pitched anything like that so far in pinstripes, with an ugly 7.88 ERA through his first nine appearances that has fans calling for Luke Weaver to take over the closer's role.
Of course, it's not even May yet. There's still plenty of time for Williams to find his stride and turn things around. But New York better hope he does, because the other side of that trade has been going great of late for Milwaukee.
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Caleb Durbin's hot start with Brewers could make Yankees live to regret Devin Williams trade
While Nestor Cortes was the headliner in the return for Williams, he was only one half of the package headed from New York to Milwaukee. The other? Infield prospect Caleb Durbin, who was so impressive at the Arizona Fall League in November that some around the Yankees had started floating him as the solution to their third-base problem.
Flash forward a few months, and that idea is looking better and better. New York's situation at the hot corner is indeed dire, despite some decent play from Oswaldo Cabrera. Durbin, meanwhile, just got the call to the Majors last week and has hit the ground running, slashing .261/.346/.435 with a homer and a steal over his first seven games.
Even beyond the numbers, Durbin just has a way of wreaking the sort of havoc on the field, at the plate and on the bases that the Yankees could really use. A 5-foot-7 sparkplug, he can play all over the infield, makes a ton of contact and can do stuff like this with his glove.
Caleb Durbin good defender pic.twitter.com/BLhbMcbdGi
— Bobby (@welcomeMLB) April 22, 2025
Again, it's way too early to draw firm conclusions here. History suggests that Williams will revert to his usual star form, and that the league will adjust to Durbin eventually. But right now, with Williams approaching free agency at the end of the year, the prospect of one season of subpar production at the cost of a potential starting infielder for the foreseeable future has to hurt.