All offseason, the Milwaukee Brewers have been threatening another big roster departure after already losing Willy Adames in free agency. While there has been some noise that the Brewers could end up keeping Devin Williams at least until the trade deadline, Milwaukee's decision to decline his option to bring his salary down was pretty clearly a play to make him a more valuable trade chip.
Well, the day of reckoning has arrived. With the pitching market going absolutely wild in free agency including the inexplicable price paid for Frankie Montas, Williams is headed to the Yankees with the Brewers clearly getting a return they liked and with good reason.
Brewers News: Milwaukee finalizing trade to send Devin Williams to the Yankees
While keeping Williams as one of the better closers in baseball would have been nice in 2025, there was just too much smoke around a trade to realistically think that he was going to stay in Milwaukee. The Brewers get to cash in on his value now, add some pieces that can help them in the near-term, and continue to shed payroll.
As for Milwaukee's return in the deal, it is actually pretty interesting.
Nestor Cortes is a weird guy to project as so much of his schtick as a pitcher is changing his delivery up constantly in his best "Charles Barkley golfing" impression. That said, he is usually pretty effective with a 3.33 ERA over the last four seasons and he generally throws strikes once he gets around to delivering the ball.
The real heist here may actually be infielder Caleb Durbin who had a real chance to make the Yankees' big league roster in 2025. While he doesn't hit for a ton of power, he is a solid defender and his bat-to-ball skills are insane as he almost never strikes out. Durbin could easily factor into the Brewers' infield plans next season with the departure of Adames. The Yankees are also adding cash considerations to the deal per Jon Morosi of MLB Network.