The best route Yankees can take with David Bednar after giving him the qualifying offer

The Yankees' 2026 season was a rollercoaster, let’s be honest. They still won plenty of games, swept the Red Sox in the Wild Card Series and played into October, but consistency was hard to find. David Bednar was one of the exceptions. Working exclusively out of the bullpen, he made 64 appearances, threw a career-high 69 1/3 innings, posted a 2.47 ERA with 35 saves, and never landed on the injured list after arriving from Pittsburgh.

That reliability earned him a $23.15 million qualifying offer this week, and now Bednar has until Nov. 17 to decide whether to sign with the Yankees for a year or explore a very unsure free agency market due to the threat of work stoppage. If he accepts, he's back on a one-year deal that would top the record $23 million average annual value Edwin Díaz got from the Dodgers. If he declines, he's free to test the market, and the Yankees can still negotiate with him. If he signs elsewhere, New York gets a draft pick but only after the fourth round because it paid the luxury tax.

There's another solution to the Bednar situation that doesn't involve him outright leaving or only committing to the Yanks for one year.

What a David Bednar extension could look like for the Yankees

Fans who'd rather avoid a long-term commitment shouldn't panic if he takes the one-year deal. Paying a bit of a premium for a single season gives the Yankees a proven closer for 2027 without tying them to his age-33 and age-34 seasons. Bednar is the top closer on the market, though, and three years is the likely ask.

Díaz set the bar with that three-year, $69 million deal. The Dodgers also gave Tanner Scott four years and $72 million, getting creative by spreading a $20 million signing bonus across the contract and deferring $21 million of his salary. Bednar's age and his track record make $15 million-$18 million a year a more sensible range than Díaz money. His career has had real swings, including a 5.77 ERA in 2024 before he rebuilt his value.

Here's how the Yanks could lay out the options:

• Three years, $45 million: The value play, and super simple. It pays him for what he's done without bidding against the top of the market.
• Three years, $51 million with minimal deferrals or a signing bonus: A middle ground that bumps his headline number while softening the hit against a payroll already well over the tax line.
• Two years, $40 million with a vesting third-year option: The higher AAV move if a rival club pushes, with the extra year tied to appearances so the Yankees are protected if his workload slips early, but Bender gets his money.

Any of those would be a bargain compared to the qualifying offer, and he outperformed his $9 million salary this year with 1.9 fWAR. If he comes anywhere close to his 2026 production over those three years, it would be a win.

Fans should temper their expectations, though. Asking a reliever in his mid-30s to be an elite closer for three straight seasons probably isn't realistic. By years two and three, Bednar may be better suited to a setup role, but that's not a bad thing. It would buy time for Carlos Lagrange, whose triple-digit fastball has already been tested out of the bullpen in Triple-A, to develop in the bullpen without the pressure of closing out the game. Or, if Lagrange's path leads somewhere else, it gives Brian Cashman a bridge until he lands the closer who can carry this team to a World Series.

Not to mention, Bednar's crafty pitch mix suggests longevity is by his side. The best case is that he can remain a strong closing option for the duration of the contract. The worst-case scenario feels like you'd get 1.5 years of him as a closer before he's relegated to lesser high-leverage duty. The Yankees need all the help they can get, though, so they can't be quibbling with many worst-case scenarios.

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