Despite coming off a down season with the New York Yankees, relief pitcher Devin Williams is highly coveted in free agency. As Tony Vitello takes over his new role as San Francisco Giants manager, he could be bringing Williams along with him.
The Giants will have competition from teams such as the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds. But as San Francisco looks to make it back to the postseason, they must now be considered a serious suitor for Williams, via Jon Morosi of the MLB Network.
“He's going to go to a very lucrative team on a lucrative deal,” Morosi said. “You look at his overall free agency. Yes, I realize things didn't go well for him with the Yankees. But you look where he was a year ago. I think Devin Williams is going to be a highly coveted free agent, no shortage of suitors.”
The Giants still have Ryan Walker on their roster, who led the team with 17 saves. But they traded away Camilo Doval, who had 15 saves, to the Yankees. There would need to be some discussions on who would handle the ninth inning if San Francisco were to sign Williams. But there is certainly room in the Giants' bullpen for his addition.
While they won't forget about it completely, teams around the league seem to be giving Williams a mulligan for his Yankees performance. It's hard not to based off what he was able to accomplish with the Milwaukee Brewers. Over six seasons, Williams held a 1.83 ERA and a 375/112 K/BB ratio. He was named an All-Star and the NL Reliever of the Year twice.
The Giants have been connected to plenty of that top free agents in the class. Who they end up signing will be telling in terms of how Vitello and Buster Posey want to build the franchise.
