Yankees navigating a different Luke Weaver-Devin Williams closer call after early demotion debacle
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Luke Weaver is healthy, and Devin Williams is pitching as well as he has since becoming a Yankee.
Now it's up to the team to determine how to best use the right-handed relievers at the back end of their bullpen, and Aaron Boone said Friday he planned to use both, although he highlighted Weaver's versatility.
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Weaver returned from the IL on Friday after being sidelined for nearly three weeks with a left hamstring strain, and Boone said Weaver and Williams would each be asked to close games.
But the manager added Weaver would be asked to pitch more than one inning at times, as well as occasionally in a 'fireman' role earlier in the game, if need be.
3 Luke Weaver throws a pitch during the Yankees' May 22 game.
Robert Sabo for the NY Post
3 Devin Williams throws a pitch during the Yankees' June 19 game.
Jason Szenes for the NY Post
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The Yankees liked Weaver in that role when he emerged in The Bronx last season before Clay Holmes' difficulties in the closer role forced them to put Weaver there, where he excelled.
Again in the early part of this season, when Williams faltered badly after arriving in a trade from Milwaukee in the offseason, Weaver was shifted back to the closer role.
Williams began to pitch better setting up Weaver and also has thrived of late closing in Weaver's absence.
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Boone said Williams' improvement began when he still was in a setup role and he would be unafraid to use either in any spot.
'On nights when both are available and we're in the eighth inning in a save situation, then I'll probably match it up with who we think they line up best [against] coming up,' Boone said.
And he's confident Williams will pitch well whenever asked.
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When it was noted Williams has performed well as the closer, entering Friday having allowed six baserunners in his previous six outings covering 5 ²/₃ innings, Boone responded that Williams' rebound goes back longer than that.
His fastball/changeup pitch mix has worked better since early May, and Williams has excelled over a 17-outing stretch.
3 Austin Wells (l.) and Devin Williams (r.) react after the Yankees' June 19 win.
Charles Wenzelberg
'This has been over a month now of some excellence,' Boone said. '[Williams] is gonna close a lot of games. That's the reality.'
He added: 'We want to put him and [Weaver] and the rest of the guys in the best situations possible. There will be those given nights where we'll probably use [Williams] in the eighth.'
CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS
Still, Williams hasn't been as dominant as Weaver, who entered Friday having given up just three earned runs in 25 ²/₃ innings, with a minuscule WHIP of 0.701.
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Whichever direction Boone and the Yankees go for now might not last the rest of the way, as was proven in 2024.
'Last year was very unknown,' Weaver said of his first season with the Yankees, when he began as a multi-inning reliever, graduated to a high-leverage role, then ended up closing the final month of the regular season and throughout the playoffs.
The acquisition of Williams pushed Weaver back to a setup role, but he's proven to be adaptable to just about anything the Yankees ask him to do.
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