Yankees' tough decision on Devin Williams shows they learned from Clay Holmes mistake

It's official: Devin Williams will not be closing games for the New York Yankees until further notice. Manager Aaron Boone revealed the news to the media before Sunday's doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays.

For now, Boone said Luke Weaver will likely take over for Williams in the ninth inning, but also mentioned he wouldn't hesitate to use other arms given the situation.

This was a direct result of Friday night's game, when Williams was called upon to preserve a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth, but instead allowed three earned runs on two hits and solidified his third blown game of the year. He has also surrendered more runs in his first 10 games with the Yankees than he did in his previous 61 appearances with the Brewers. Something is very wrong.

In what feels like a complete change of character, the Yankees wasted the least amount of time possible (for their standards, we might add) in deciding to rehabilitate Williams and take a high-profile job title away from him. That's a departure from how Boone and the Yankees have handled various personnel decisions ever since the manager took over in 2018.

We have last year's Clay Holmes example as the most recent, directly applicable one, too. In a similar situation, the Yankees owed nothing to Holmes, whom they completely rehabilitated after trading for him. But they let him wither away in the closer role until the beginning of September of 2024.

At that point, the damage was done, however. Holmes blew a league-leading 13 games and cost the Yankees dearly through the first five months of the season. Then, New York was given only a month to restructure their bullpen ahead of the postseason in what felt like unnecessary scrambling in preparation for the most important part of the year.

Yankees announce Devin Williams will be removed from closer role

Fast forward to 2025, and though Williams is a marquee name, he is owed nothing. He's a free agent after this season and has an incredibly poor playoff track record with a small three-game sample size. For as good as he was from 2020-2024, the Yankees don't have the luxury of allowing something this disastrous play out for any longer. They don't have Juan Soto further buoying the offense. Their starting rotation is depleted.

There's definitely a greater sense of urgency this time around given all the Yankees are dealing with, and fans are certainly appreciative that they finally acted swiftly and with intent. On the flip side, you can't help but wonder how things might've been different if this kind of thinking prevailed from 2018-2024.

All fans can ask for is change, and they're receiving it at this very moment. It's becoming a trend, too, as the organization reversed course on their facial hair policy, postgame music choice, and overall roster construction philosophy earlier in the offseason.

Better late than never, and it's definitely reassuring they are using the Holmes miscalculation from last season to get ahead of this particular problem rather than sweeping it under the rug.