The Milwaukee Brewers, despite claiming to be more than willing to retain Devin Williams for the 2025 MLB season, traded their two-time All-Star closer New York Yankees for left-handed starting pitcher Nestor Cortes and hitter Caleb Durbin.
Milwaukee, of course, decided to trade Williams to the Yankees for two very critical reasons. First, they won’t be able to afford to sign him when he enters free agency after the 2025 season. By selling him now, they at least got some players back in exchange for losing him.
The second and perhaps most intriguing reason is Durbin. While Cortes is a nice addition to the starting rotation, he only has one year of club control left, just like Williams. He will likely only spend one season with the Brewers unless they trade him before or during the season.
Durbin, although he has yet to make his Major League debut, is an electrifying prospect who just set an Arizona Fall League record with 29 stolen bases (they play 24 games in the league). At every level of professional baseball he played, he overcame more than he accomplished.
If he makes the Opening Day lineup, it would allow Joey Ortiz or Brice Turang to move to shortstop to replace Willy Adames.
The Milwaukee Brewers may sign Carlos Estevez to replace Devin Williams
Of course, using the Williams trade to answer several other roster questions only created modern ones: Who will be the Brewers’ closer in 2025? Fortunately for Milwaukee, they have one of the best prospects in baseball and plenty of internal candidates to fill the role.
While Williams was on the injured list with a stress fracture in his back, the fiery Trevor Megill saved 20 games in 22 opportunities and had an ERA of 2.72. Craig Yoho, who pitched for the Brewers at three different minor league levels last year, finished the season with a 4-2 record, 0.97 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 10 saves in 48 games.
Yoho also struck out 101 batters in just 57.2 innings.
However, it’s possible that Milwaukee will look for a low-cost free agent to facilitate fill that role as well. If they do this, Curt Bishop z Illustrated sports thinks they should consider signing a contract Carlos Estevez: :
“Perhaps the Brewers could seek facilitate in the free agent market. The Athletic lists Carlos Estevez as one of the top free agents available and would be a perfect fit for the Brew Crew.
Estevez was an All-Star for the Los Angeles Angels in 2023, where he went 5-5 with a 3.90 ERA, 1.49 WHIP and had 31 saves. However, he was much better last year and spent the season with the Angels and Philadelphia Phillies.
In 2024, Estevez went 4-5 with a 2.45 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and had 26 saves.
The problem with the suggestion of signing Estevez, however, is this Scout projects get a three-year contract worth $42 million, or $14 million per year. Simply put, the Brewers won’t pay it. They didn’t even want to pay Williams $10 million, so it’s obvious they won’t pay Estevez $14 million.
That being said, if Estevez’s market drops and he becomes available for $6-7 million on a one-year deal, he would be an ideal Brewers free agent.
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