NEW YORK — For more than 20 minutes, Devin Williams remained motionless at his locker, still dressed in full uniform, staring into the abyss of his phone. He sat hunched forward, his left hand bracing his chin, eyes glassy as he scrolled, passing the time to try to forget about his latest implosion.
It wasn’t until reporters approached Williams on Friday night to see if he would be willing to answer questions that he moved. When the reliever stood and approached the backdrop that hangs in the middle of the New York Yankees’ clubhouse, he sounded defeated.
“I’m not making pitches, it’s pretty simple,” Williams said. “I stink right now.”
Earlier, Yankees manager Aaron Boone turned to Williams in the top of the 10th inning in a 2-2 game against the Houston Astros. And for the third time this week, Williams’ usage directly led to a Yankees loss, this time a 5-3 defeat. Now, the Yankees have just a half-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians for the final wild-card spot in the American League.
From the moment the 10th inning began Friday, a poor result felt imminent. Williams yanked a first-pitch fastball to the backstop, allowing Jose Altuve, the automatic runner at second base, to advance. Carlos Correa then followed with an RBI single on a changeup out of the zone. The sold-out Yankee Stadium crowd immediately filled the air with a cacophony of boos.
Three batters later, Williams hung a changeup at the top of the zone and Astros center fielder Taylor Trammell blasted a two-run home run, giving Houston a 5-2 lead. It’s the second home run that Williams has allowed this week to a non-factor on offense. In Texas, it was Joc Pederson, who entered the game with an OPS below .500 this season. On Friday, it was Trammell, who has an 86 wRC+ over his five-year career.
It’s beautiful 🥹 pic.twitter.com/5Pa7UByZqz
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 9, 2025
Williams surely deserves blame for his performance on Friday, but so does Boone. It is inexcusable that Williams was in the game at that moment, and beyond overdue for him to be removed completely from a high-leverage role.
The Yankees’ bullpen was short on arms, even after an off day on Thursday. After throwing 42 pitches in Texas on Wednesday, David Bednar was unavailable. Mark Leiter Jr. was only an emergency option after throwing just 12 pitches across two appearances in Texas. Leiter is fresh off an injured list stint for a stress fracture in his left leg, but he hadn’t thrown many high-stress pitches. In Miami, Ben Rice spoke about the Yankees needing a sense of urgency. Turning to Leiter in the 10th would have been an example of sensing the moment called for a change of plans.
By the time Boone turned to Williams, that left only Tim Hill and Brent Headrick as options remaining in the bullpen. The Astros started the 10th inning with three consecutive righties, which made using Hill or Headrick a tough sell to Boone. Righties have a .778 OPS against Hill, while Headrick has mostly been used in low-leverage spots.
And yet, the numbers don’t matter in this type of situation. Williams needed to be the last man out of the bullpen, and the Yankees needed to live with the results. The optics of turning to Williams are horrendous, especially when his confidence was already shot entering Friday.
“I’m not gonna say it’s as high as it’s ever been, obviously not the way things have been going,” said Williams, who has allowed eight earned runs in his last 4 2/3 innings. “I just need to put some good ones together and get the ball rolling in the right direction.”
Luke Weaver threw 19 pitches in the ninth inning, leaving him as a possibility to pitch the 10th. But Boone said he didn’t consider it because he walked Jesús Sánchez to extend the ninth by one batter, saying, “It kind of took him out of play for the second inning.” Weaver has pitched more than one inning in just 10 of 43 outings this season.
The Yankees traded for Williams this past offseason, thinking they were getting one of the sport’s most dominant closers. Instead, he’s joined a list of players who have flamed out in New York after prolonged success elsewhere. He will be a free agent at season’s end, and it would be stunning if the Yankees re-signed him.
The Yankees have Fernando Cruz, Jonathan Loáisiga and Ryan Yarbrough returning in a few weeks. If Williams continues to struggle to this degree, it will be interesting to see if general manager Brian Cashman considers cutting his losses, especially knowing the two-time All-Star likely won’t be back next season. At this point, everyone else in the bullpen offers the Yankees a better chance of winning, and with where the club is in the standings, every game matters.
(Photo of Devin Williams and Carlos Correa: Frank Franklin II / Associated Press)
