Luke Weaver speaking about Yankees exit has fans feeling a certain way

Despite Luke Weaver's shaky 2025 season, plenty of New York Yankees fans would have welcomed him back in 2026 and beyond. New York's bullpen isn't strong enough right now (sorry, Paul Blackburn and Co.), and Weaver signing with the New York Mets made his Yankees departure sting even more.

So, too, does Weaver's impossible-to-hate reaction to the Yankees' disinterest in his services. While reports in December suggested that the Yanks had genuine interest in bringing Weaver back, they ultimately didn't make him an offer. Weaver spoke about this on Foul Territory and couldn't have been more professional.

Luke Weaver's winning response to unfair Yankees treatment makes his departure look like a Brian Cashman mistake

Weaver confirmed with Foul Territory's AJ Pierzynski that Cashman never presented him an official offer. With Pierzynski teeing up the opportunity for Weaver to say something bitter or negative about the situation, Weaver opted instead to express gratitude for his time in the Bronx, thanking the organization for allowing him to "resurrect" his career. He also said he loved everybody in the clubhouse and that he wanted to keep pitching for the Yankees.

Yankees fans had to love Weaver's classy response here, especially with Devin Williams showing earlier in the offseason what it looks like to have a fraught departure. As aforementioned, Weaver didn't have his best season last year, but his legacy in the Bronx is still way better than what Williams left behind, which makes Devin's petty dig at Yankees fans on his way out look as sad as Weaver's grace here looks noble.

Would something in the range of a $22 million deal for Weaver (i.e., what the Mets gave him) have been a Cashman overpay? In a world where the Yanks already have a robust bullpen, yes. Of course, that's not the world we're living in at the moment.

Cashman's been operating with a heavy dose of recency bias of late. It seems like the most recent season is all he's looking at when evaluating players who have played for multiple years in Major League Baseball. In defending his decision to offer Trent Grisham the qualifying offer, Cashman said that Grisham will be worth the contract if he repeats his 2025 production in 2026, ignoring that Grisham's entire career suggests otherwise.

Cashman appears to have taken a similar approach with Weaver, withholding an offer because of a difficult 2025 and ignoring Weaver's extremely valuable 2024.

Weaver's conversation with Pierzynski was the latest reminder that this guy's a mental warrior. He's the kind of winner that adds value to a clubhouse, even when he's struggling with his stuff. Is that value worth $22 million? No, but that's beside the point. The Yankees of old would have inked Weaver to a new deal in November, seeing the whole ordeal as a small expense that has a bit of fiscal risk and plenty of upside.