Luke Weaver and Devin Williams were the Yankees’ two prominent relievers hitting the free agent market this winter, and both have agreed to deals with the Mets and will pitch elsewhere in 2026.
This leaves the team without some of their swing-and-miss pitchers from the previous season, and while the Yankees have remained strict on their lack of spending on the bullpen.
Brian Cashman believes in his pitching development team to try and find hidden gems for cheap on the market, and relievers are so volatile that it can be hard to reliably project reliever performance (Devin Williams anybody?).
With the Yankees having two of their most notable relievers from last season leave the roster, how should they evaluate and improve their bullpen for 2026?
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What Does the Yankees’ Bullpen Look Like Right Now?
David Bednar was inside the top 10 among relievers in both WAR and K-BB% in 2025, this is one of the best relievers in the game and he rebounded well after a terrible 2024 campaign where he spent time in the Minor Leagues.
The Yankees also got an incredible year out of Fernando Cruz who struck out 36% of batters faced with a 3.56 ERA and 3.18 FIP, he’s a really good option for late-inning situations.
When it comes to Camilo Doval, I know he was shaky but the stuff and strides he made down the stretch were encouraging and I think he should be the team’s no. 4 option out of the bullpen.
Looking at the middle of the reliever market, I’m a big fan of having Jake Bird and Brent Headrick get some work with the Major League team.
Bird finished with an ugly 5.53 ERA, but his 117 Stuff+ and 16.5% K-BB% are firmly above-average, if the Yankees can just get him comfortable pitching in a more controlled environment away from Coors Field, he could be excellent.
As for Headrick, he also stands out in both Stuff models and metrics such as K-BB%, flashing a 25% K-BB% with a 3.13 ERA and 3.25 xFIP during the 2025 season.
He’s got a fastball with good vertical movement, a slider that plays well off of that fastball, and a splitter that could be a fun pitch given the widespread success of that pitch during the 2025 postseason.
Both he and Bird project to produce sub-4.00 ERAs in 2026, and they’re expected to be the fifth and sixth mans right now in the bullpen, with the hope being that they can each be bumped down a spot in the depth chart.
Tim Hill doesn’t have the gaudy K-BB% numbers of some other names we’ve praised so far in this article, but his outlier damage suppression makes him tough on lefties.
I’d be shocked if he didn’t take a step back in run prevention and overall effectiveness, but his 3.92 xFIP and 3.70 SIERA indicate that while he was dfortunate, he was still an above-average reliever in 2025.
Cade Winquest and Yerry De Los Santos would be the team’s likely seventh and eighth options if the team had a game tomorrow, and both arms come with varying levels of intrigue.
I bought some Yerry De Los Santos stock entering the 2025 season, and while he wasn’t great, he more than beat his projections in the ERA and FIP departments.
He doesn’t miss enough bats for me and the command leaves a lot to be desired, but once he found his changeup, he saw the strikeout rates increase so maybe there’s some more to unlock here.
De Los Santos has options which is why I’d hope the team has someone on the roster who can push him out of a spot, but there’s reason to keep an eye on him in Spring Training following a year where he was an above-average arm for 35.2 IP.
As for Cade Winquest he has a 95 MPH that gets an extra MPH of perceived velocity due to his extension, releasing the ball from a lower release height than most with high spin rates.
He’s hit 100 MPH on the radar gun before and could develop more reliable secondary pitches, including a sinker and sweeper depending on how his offseason program goes.
The velocity he held in Double-A this year was as a starter, so I’d expect a velo boost with his role contracting the number of pitches thrown significantly on a per-outing basis, which is why I think he could be an excellent flier.
Right now, Depth Charts projects the Yankees’ bullpen to have a roughly league-average K-BB% with a better than average ERA, which is why I think they need to be more focused on one excellent reliever.
How Can the Yankees Make a Big Improvement To Their Bullpen?
Hunter Harvey is a lower-cost reliever who might keep the door open for the Yankees to add another reliever on the trade market, perhaps shuffling some starting pitching depth in a deal or something of that nature.
The right-hander projects to have a 19.5% K-BB% on Depth Charts with a 3.41 ERA, but there’s injury risk that keeps him at a lower-cost than other relievers with good projections.
In 2024 he dealt with injuries when traded to the Royals, and despite the 4.44 ERA he had a 3.52 FIP and 17.8% K-BB% which indicated he was unlucky.
As for the 2025 season, he had 12 appearances with a 28.2% K% and didn’t allow a single earned run, with the fastball losing some zip but maintaining the excellent shape he’s had for years.
I could also imagine that Justin Wilson, former Yankees’ reliever, could be a low-cost option due to his older age, and his swing-and-miss stuff has held up well over the years.
I’m definitely a little worried that his four-seamer lost 1 MPH, but he added more swing-and-miss to it and the secondary pitches are still really good, which is why I think we could see them go to the trade market if these two aren’t ideal.
Adrian Morejon is an excellent reliever who is on the final year of his contract with the Padres, and he posted a 2.08 ERA with a 53.1% GB% and 24.5% K%.
He doesn’t have ridiculously high strikeout rates, but he has learned to pound the zone which is something the Yankees do lack a bit of in their bullpen.
A left-handed reliever who sits 97 MPH on the sinker and mixes in a slider/changeup when necessary, he would fit the organizational identity of elite-level sinkers very well.
I’d also look at Rays’ reliever Garrett Cleavinger, who also has a power sinker, and he struck out over 33% of batters faced with a 2.35 ERA while pitching at George M. Steinbrenner Field in hot-and-humid Tampa.
For two years, you’re getting a player who is going to be owed around $3 million for 2026, and the Yankees would be making a monumental upgrade over Tim Hill as their no. 1 southpaw.
Adding one of these trade targets or two of the low-cost swing-and-miss weapons would help the bullpen a ton, and I’d also note that the team have bigger needs including the rotation and outfield.
If there’s any part of the roster to believe the organization would be able to beat projections on, it’s their bullpen, this is easily the hardest part of any team to try and map out the results for.
Loading up on guys with excellent stuff is a good gameplan for an organziation that maximizes these guys well, but I’d still look to add one ‘reliable’ option (relative to the reliever position), probably through the trade market.