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Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

As Caleb Durbin Starts in the NLCS, the Yankees Are Still Searching

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Kristie Ackert | Last updated Oct 12, 2025 11:03 PM ET

The New York Yankees rented a closer. The Milwaukee Brewers built a third baseman. Ten months later, Devin Williams is a free agent, and the Yankees are at home watching the playoffs. The one-time top Yankees prospect, Caleb Durbin, reinvented himself as a third baseman, and the rookie will start in the National League Championship Series this week.

The irony? The New York Yankees spent all offseason and the first half of the year looking for a third baseman. They traded away Durbin for Williams without giving him a chance.

Back in December, the New York Yankees finally pried Devin Williams out of the Milwaukee Brewers, sending Nestor Cortes, Caleb Durbin, and cash the other way. In New York, it read like a parade route for the ninth inning. In Milwaukee, it looked like a bet on a cost-controlled, major-league-ready infielder who could run, defend, and live in the zone at the plate.

Durbin Built by Reps

Durbin was a project with momentum. Coming off a breakout run in the Arizona Fall League, the New York Yankees said he’d get a chance to battle for a spot at second. The rest of the league saw the same things: quiet hands, footwork that plays. Given a clean runway at third in Milwaukee after the trade, he turned “can he stick there?” into “don’t hit it there.”

New York’s Side

After a bumpy patch to start the season, Williams settled into a lower-leverage role and then back to the ninth. A second rough spot cost him the ninth altogether. As a one-year solution for a contender, Williams was the right move on paper—two-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year, Reliever of the Year. There was no way to know he wouldn’t handle New York the way the résumé suggested.

But now he’s a free agent, and the New York Yankees already spent more prospect capital at the deadline to get closer David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

New York Yankees relief pitcher Devin Williams reacts after giving up two runs in the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field.© Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

The Other Cost

After moving Durbin, the New York Yankees spent months stapling third base together—Oswaldo Cabrera, Oswald Peraza, Jazz Chisholm Jr. By midsummer, they’d cycled through a small army and watched the position lag. They finally paid the Colorado Rockies (in more prospects) for Ryan McMahon to stop the bleeding. They dealt a playable, cheap infielder and wound up buying a finished one later. Milwaukee, meanwhile, just kept rolling the ball to third and getting outs.

Who Won It?

If you grade the trade today in isolation, you can argue both sides. New York shored up late innings on a team with October ambitions. Milwaukee unlocked an everyday third baseman on rookie money. If you grade the next three to five years, the picture changes. Durbin’s control window is just opening; Williams’ window just closed. The Brewers are up on the deal, and the gap widens with every cheap, competent Durbin inning at third.

What It Means

Milwaukee traded a walk-year reliever and came away with an everyday third baseman who fits their personality like a glove. New York rented late-inning certainty and then had to go shopping for a third baseman anyway. That’s not hindsight. That’s the math. Today it reads Brewers 1, Yankees 0—with the footnote that the Yankees can still buy their way back to even if they’re willing to pay for the same problem twice.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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