In an ideal world, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone will only have to worry about All-Star closer Edwin Díaz and the Los Angeles Dodgers twice next season. Regardless of what happens in their latest title chase, the Yankees host the Dodgers from July 17-19 in a three-game set immediately following the All-Star Break.
Otherwise, the only other time Boone would need to plan against Díaz would be if both teams made the World Series — and considering that the Yankees have only won a single pennant through Boone’s eight seasons at the helm, that alone should have the veteran skipper anxious entering the 2026 campaign. However, there’s another aspect of Díaz’s three-year, $69 million deal with the Dodgers that Boone might want to be concerned with, and that’s the impact it has on former Yankees reliever Devin Williams, who will replace Díaz as the New York Mets’ closer.
Devin Williams could make Aaron Boone one of the Edwin Díaz’s signing’s biggest losers — or an unexpected winner
To be clear, we believe the Yankees and Williams needed to move on after his dreadful first year in pinstripes. Regardless of what false narratives the mainstream media wanted to push about Williams’ advanced numbers (we’re not sorry when we point out that a 0-3. bWAR doesn’t overrule his FIP) or an allegedly strong second half (a 5.06 ERA after the All-Star Break isn’t exactly impressive), the reality is that Williams lost his closer role multiple times and played a key role in the Yankees losing the AL East to the Toronto Blue Jays despite tying for first place.
For all of the justified criticism that Boone gets regarding his stubbornness and loyalty to his players, he deserves kudos for how he handled the Williams situation overall. It didn’t matter that Williams was the 2020 NL Rookie of the Year and a dominant closer with the Milwaukee Brewers. When the two-time All-Star had a rough April, Boone quickly decided to make Luke Weaver his closer. Although Williams eventually regained his role, the Yankees acquired Pittsburgh Pirates closer David Bednar at the trade deadline for a reason: Williams still couldn’t be trusted in the ninth inning.
If Williams continues his ninth-inning struggles with the Mets, Boone will look like a genius for understanding what Yankees fans quickly realized: Williams, for whatever reason, is no longer a shutdown closer. Maybe it was the transition from Milwaukee to New York — though Williams made it clear following the season that he’d eventually adjusted to his new home — or the pressure of playing for a team where anything short of a World Series title is worse than failure, but Williams simply couldn’t find a consistent groove with the Yankees.
However, if Williams returns to his dominant form, then Yankees fans might find another reason to have beef with Boone. If you’ve ever scrolled social media or listened to WFAN, you know that Yankees fans ran out of patience with Boone years ago. Would anyone truly be surprised if the newest argument, that Boone and the Yankees gave up on Williams too quickly, comes in April or May? For his part, Williams publicly said that he’d be willing to re-sign with the Yankees if given the opportunity.
Such an opinion would overlook that Boone was justified in removing Williams from the closer role. Then again, Yankees fans aren’t exactly known for being rational thinkers. We’ve already reached a point where some appear open to putting Aaron Judge over Derek Jeter on the Yankees’ all-time rankings despite the fact that Judge, a three-time MVP, has never won a World Series. Honestly, we don’t think it’ll be long before a portion of the fanbase argues that Judge deserves a spot on the Yankees’ Mount Rushmore, which would mean removing one of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, or Mickey Mantle. Good luck with that one, folks.
The bottom line is that if Williams pitches great, Boone and general manager Brian Cashman are likely to take further criticism. We’ll see what happens if Williams is a middle-of-the-road closer, one who has a strong season but is nowhere near elite. Yankees fans always need something to complain about, though, so Boone likely isn’t safe either way.