Boston Red Sox Interested In Devin Williams

[Matthew Lenz]

Earlier this week, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said the Boston Red Sox's primary focus was on a front-line number two starter and a middle-of-the-order power bat. However, one report suggests they are interested in a high-end reliever.

Will Sammon of The Athletic is reporting that the Boston Red Sox are interested in former Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees closer Devin Williams.

Williams struggled through 67 appearances for the Bronx Bombers, logging 62 innings pitched in relief. Though he posted a career-high 4.79 ERA, his 2.68 FIP suggests he was better than the surface stat indicates. On the other hand, his K-BB rate of 25.0%, which would be considered low for most pitchers, was below his career average. If we can point to one thing as the reason for his struggles, it would be his league-worst 55.2% strand rate—a number roughly 20 points below his career norm and typically not predictive from one season to another. MLBTR projects him to net $68 million over four years.

Do you think the Red Sox should pursue Williams in hopes of a rebound? Let us know in the comments!

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[moonslav59]

Nope!

[Larry Cook]

If we are to sign a former yankee, king is my choice, if the medicals check out!!!!

[JoeBrady]

No, they're not interested.  They have a very good closer, and an outstanding setup in Whitaker.  They finished 2nd in MLB in BP ERA, and they have a plethora of #6/7/8 type SPs, some of whom will be relegated to the BP.

This is one of the sillier rumors yet.  And I happen to think Williams will be a good signing for someone.  Just not us.

[Larry Cook]

6 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

No, they're not interested.  They have a very good closer, and an outstanding setup in Whitaker.  They finished 2nd in MLB in BP ERA, and they have a plethora of #6/7/8 type SPs, some of whom will be relegated to the BP.

This is one of the sillier rumors yet.  And I happen to think Williams will be a good signing for someone.  Just not us.

Whitlock???  

[Hitch]

5 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

No, they're not interested.  They have a very good closer, and an outstanding setup in Whitaker.  They finished 2nd in MLB in BP ERA, and they have a plethora of #6/7/8 type SPs, some of whom will be relegated to the BP.

This is one of the sillier rumors yet.  And I happen to think Williams will be a good signing for someone.  Just not us.

You can never have enough good arms. Another lockdown arm in the pen is always a good thing. 

That said, I'm not overly high on Williams.

[mvp 78]

Sox will be interest kings on 20-25 players this offseason. Williams is just another guy on the list. If they acquired him along with the #2, the middle of the order bat and a 3b, it would be quite the feat. Seems unlikely Brezzz could get all of that done. 

[notin]

13 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

If we are to sign a former yankee, king is my choice, if the medicals check out!!!!

I liked King, but he’s hard to commit to long term and he has a QO attached…

[notin]

4 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Sox will be interest kings on 20-25 players this offseason. Williams is just another guy on the list. If they acquired him along with the #2, the middle of the order bat and a 3b, it would be quite the feat. Seems unlikely Brezzz could get all of that done. 

And Casas at 1b?

If he’s healthy, he makes for a good solution.  If…

[notin]

I like Helsley over Williams.  But Helsley probably wants to close.  Maybe a multiyear deal at closer money and he takes over the role next year or, if Chapman loses it, even sooner…

[moonslav59]

I'm tired of adding players where we rely on "hope they regain form" and "hope they recovered from a recent injury."

I'd rather just hope they do as well as they always do.

[mvp 78]

Aside from LOB% and ERA, his numbers were really good across the board. He's still got closer stuff.

[drewski6]

7 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Sox will be interest kings on 20-25 players this offseason. Williams is just another guy on the list. If they acquired him along with the #2, the middle of the order bat and a 3b, it would be quite the feat. Seems unlikely Brezzz could get all of that done. 

yup, theyll be in on everybody, and we'll wind up with Justin Turner and Rich Hill.

[Larry Cook]

44 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Aside from LOB% and ERA, his numbers were really good across the board. He's still got closer stuff.

Williams is a 4 seamer guy and I think Bailey does not let like for guys to throw that many 4 seam fastballs. 

[drewski6]

3 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Williams is a 4 seamer guy and I think Bailey does not let like for guys to throw that many 4 seam fastballs. 

Williams is a screwball guy. The only one.

[mvp 78]

12 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Williams is a 4 seamer guy and I think Bailey does not let like for guys to throw that many 4 seam fastballs. 

This is untrue. He only dislikes the reliance on 4 seamers if they don't have good velo or movement. Williams gets a lot of horizontal break on his 4 seamer. It's not a straight Schiraldi 4 seamer. The past 5 seasons, his 4 seamer has had a positive run value. 

And yes, the 4 seamer is his secondary pitch.

[drewski6]

I screwball when wii bowling (left to right spin from a righty)

[drewski6]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

This is untrue. He only dislikes the reliance on 4 seamers if they don't have good velo or movement. Williams gets a lot of horizontal break on his 4 seamer. It's not a straight Schiraldi 4 seamer. The past 5 seasons, his 4 seamer has had a positive run value. 

Its also his set-up pitch. His bread and butter is the screwball, which he throws like 55%.  Fastball is solid too. Does have arm side run.  Wonder how he grips it.

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Its also his set-up pitch. His bread and butter is the screwball, which he throws like 55%.  Fastball is solid too. Does have arm side run.  Wonder how he grips it.

He grips it like a change, but pronates his wrist to get the airbender to bend. 

[mvp 78]

7 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I screwball when wii bowling (left to right spin from a righty)

Easier to learn that than an actual screwball apparently! Not enough Valenzuelas anymore! 

[drewski6]

10 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

This is untrue. He only dislikes the reliance on 4 seamers if they don't have good velo or movement. Williams gets a lot of horizontal break on his 4 seamer. It's not a straight Schiraldi 4 seamer. The past 5 seasons, his 4 seamer has had a positive run value. 

Its rare to get arm-side run with a 4 seam grip, but hes a super rare pitcher. Think they call that "the running fastball" (arm side run with a 4 seam grip). Its got less verticle drop than a 2 seamer usually.

Kind of funny, how if it runs arm side with no drop, its a running fastball, wiht some drop its a 2 seamer, but not too much drop becasue then its a sinker.

King of like 1-to-7 oclock is a curveball, but 12-6 is a 12-6 curve, but 3-to-8 is a sweeping curveball

So many different names and more are added every year.

[drewski6]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He grips it like a change, but pronates his wrist to get the airbender to bend. 

Hes cool. We have bigger needs, but hes cool.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Hes cool. We have bigger needs, but hes cool.

I agree. If the other guys fall through, they should grab him if he's still around. I wouldn't have him high on the priority list though. 

[drewski6]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Easier to learn that than an actual screwball apparently! Not enough Valenzuelas anymore! 

I cant pitch for sh*t real life. Im an elite pitcher in the show. Real life? I throw my arm out on the third pitch.

Real life with the bat? Im a DH righty who can crush righties if they throw around my knees. Cant hit lefties at all or anything up in the zone at all.  In the show, Im dirty with a bat in my hand too but not as elite as I am a pitcher.  And I hit righties better in teh show too even with a righty batter.

Crazy how realistic the game is.  My real life tendancies show up. (Cant hit lefties)

Boggles my mind that most righties hit lefties better.  I understand lefties cant throw that slider running away from me like righties can. And righties get me with that a lot.  But even take that away, and I still cant hit lefties.

[JoeBrady]

On 11/12/2025 at 10:40 PM, Larry Cook said:

Whitlock???  

LOL!  It was auto-correct, or at least that's the excuse I am going with.

[JoeBrady]

On 11/13/2025 at 4:33 AM, Hitch said:

You can never have enough good arms. Another lockdown arm in the pen is always a good thing. 

That said, I'm not overly high on Williams.

But another good $15M BP addition, instead of applying that $15M towards someone like Alonso?

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

But another good $15M BP addition, instead of applying that $15M towards someone like Alonso?

I don't think it's "instead of." 

[JoeBrady]

23 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Aside from LOB% and ERA, his numbers were really good across the board. He's still got closer stuff.

He'll get paid like a closer.  I think he gets way too much inside his own head, but he still plenty of talent.  In his last 19 outings, he had a 0.36 FIP, and included one game with 4 ERs (and 3 of those runs came in a Doval meltdown).  In the other 18 appearances, he allowed one ER. 

[mvp 78]

32 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

He'll get paid like a closer.  I think he gets way too much inside his own head, but he still plenty of talent.  In his last 19 outings, he had a 0.36 FIP, and included one game with 4 ERs (and 3 of those runs came in a Doval meltdown).  In the other 18 appearances, he allowed one ER. 

He's definitely NOT priority number 1. If he's there towards the end of the dance and the Sox still have $$$? Maybe! 

IMO, the Sox have a talent gap to fill. They need to fill it wherever they can. 

[notin]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

He's definitely NOT priority number 1. If he's there towards the end of the dance and the Sox still have $$$? Maybe! 

IMO, the Sox have a talent gap to fill. They need to fill it wherever they can. 

In today’s bullpen-centric game, it’s a good idea to make game at most 5-6 innings long for opposing hitters…