Last offseason, the New York Yankees traded for Milwaukee Brewers closer Devin Williams, just a year removed from a stellar 36-save season for the 2013 second-round draft pick. The Yankees believed that by adding Williams, they solidified a high-leverage bullpen spot that had been shaky down the stretch in 2024.
Things didn’t work out that way. Despite posting mostly respectable numbers, Williams appeared to melt down in crucial game situations repeatedly, prompting longtime general manager Brian Cashman to make trade deadline moves for not just one new late-innings reliever but three: David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jake Bird from the Colorado Rockies, and from the San Francisco Giants, Camilo Duval.
But on Thursday, the Tampa Bay Rays may have handed the Yankees a “gift” that would solve New York’s closer problem at least for next year and possibly beyond. In a cost-cutting move that came as a surprise, even for a team in the bottom five of major league payroll expenditures year after year, the Rays released right-hander Pete Fairbanks, whose fastball tops out at 100 mph, according to Statcast, and who has saved at least 23 games for Tampa Bay three seasons in a row.
Fairbanks is coming off a season with a career-high 27 saves, making the Rays’ decision to move on from the seven-year veteran even more unexpected. But Fairbanks had a club option that would have paid him $11 million next season. Rather than pay him the money, the Rays released him — not even attempting to get anything in return by picking up the option then trading him.
The Rays, according to Yanks Go Yard analyst Stephen Parello, gave the Yankees “a gift in more ways than one” by cutting ties with Fairbanks.
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“This is a double win for the Yankees. Not only is Fairbanks on the table for them, but the Rays missed out on a chance to receive a real return,” Parello wrote on Saturday. “Armed with a high-90s fastball, a wipeout slider, and the type of demeanor you love to see from a relief ace, Fairbanks now joins Diaz and Suarez as a third legitimate top-tier late-inning option in free agency.”
In addition to his 27 saves, Fairbanks posted a 2.83 ERA this season, with a solid 1.044 WHIP. The righty has notched 332 career strikeouts in 265 1/3 innings.
According to an estimate by the sports business site Spotrac, now that Fairbanks has become a free agent, thanks to the Rays’ decision, he is likely to command an annual $14 million salary over three years for either the Yankees or whichever team signs him this offseason.
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