Dodgers have interest in reliever Devin Williams

The Los Angeles Dodgers have shown interest in Devin Williams as they pursue a high-leverage righty reliever, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. They join the Miami Marlins as teams known to be interested in the two-time All-Star.

Williams was one of the three to five best relievers in MLB throughout his time with the Brewers. He pitched to a 1.83 earned run average over parts of six seasons in Milwaukee. That included three straight sub-2.00 ERA showings between 2022-24. Among relievers with 100+ innings over that stretch, Williams trailed only Edwin Díaz and Félix Bautista with a 39.5% strikeout rate. The only real concern were the back fractures that cost him the first half of the ’24 season.

Milwaukee traded Williams to the Yankees before his final year of arbitration. He had the worst season of his career in the Bronx. Williams turned in a 4.79 ERA over 62 innings. He started the year poorly enough that he lost the closer role in April. Williams reclaimed it in June when Luke Weaver went on the injured list but scuffled again in July. The Yankees acquired David Bednar at the deadline to push Williams into a setup role for the remainder of the season.

While it was clearly an uneven season, there’s still reason to expect a return to form. Williams fanned an excellent 34.7% of batters faced while getting swinging strikes nearly 17% of the time. Those aren’t quite at the same level as his Milwaukee days, but they’re still top 15 marks in MLB. His 94.1 mph average four-seam fastball speed was in line with his career levels. Williams continues to get ridiculous movement on the changeup/screwball that has been his signature pitch throughout his career. Opposing hitters had a lofty .339 average on balls in play when runners were on base. Some teams could chalk that up as poor sequencing luck and continue to project Williams as a top 10 reliever moving forward.

The poor season meant the Yankees weren’t willing to risk Williams accepting a $22.025M qualifying offer to return to the Bronx. MLBTR ranked his earning potential second among relievers behind Díaz, predicting that the strong peripherals would lead a club to offer him a four-year, $68M deal. That’d require a team to overlook the unsightly ERA, though, so it’s certainly not out of the question that he’s forced to settle for a shorter-term contract. Robert Suárez, Kyle Finnegan and Pete Fairbanks are among other closers available on the free agent market.

The Dodgers made the biggest free agent reliever move of last offseason. Their four-year, $72M investment in Tanner Scott did not look good in the first season. Neither did bringing back Blake Treinen on a two-year deal or the one-year contract for Kirby Yates. Among their traditional relievers, the Dodgers were essentially down to Alex Vesia as their lone reliable late-game arm in the postseason.

Converted starters Emmet Sheehan and Roki Sasaki were their top righty relievers in October. Both pitchers are expected to be back in the rotation mix next spring. General manager Brandon Gomes said this evening that the team “absolutely” still views Sasaki as a starter (link via Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register). Gomes nevertheless said the Dodgers don’t feel they need to land a top-tier reliever this offseason. He expressed optimism in a Scott bounce back, and they could get Brusdar Graterol and Brock Stewart back from injuries. Neither Graterol nor Stewart has shown much ability to stay healthy, though, so there’s presumably a measure of “GM speak” in Gomes downplaying the need for a high-octane arm.