The Yankees announced that they have exercised their club option on right-hander Luke Weaver for the 2025 season. He’ll make a $2.5MM salary in the upcoming campaign.
The decision is not surprising at all. The Yankees showed a lot of faith in Weaver and it paid off in a big way. Though he was once a first-round pick and top prospect, his initial career success led into a real rough patch.
Weaver showed some promise as a starter at the start of his career but posted a 5.95 earned run average over the 2020-2023 period. He was designated for assignment by the Mariners in September of 2023 and landed with the Yankees, making three appearances for the Yanks as they ran out the clock on that season.
They must have seen something they liked in that time, as they re-signed him in January, a one-year deal that included a $2MM salary in 2024, a club option for 2025, as well as incentives and escalators.
The gamble paid out in a huge way, as Weaver just wrapped up an excellent season. He tossed 84 innings out of the Yankee bullpen this year with a 2.89 earned run average. He struck out 31.1% of batters faced while keeping his walk rate to a 7.9% level. He earned 22 holds and took over as closer late in the year, earning four saves. He made another 12 appearances in the postseason with a 1.79 ERA, earning four more saves.
Weaver’s $2.5MM club option came with escalators but they didn’t kick in until 100 innings pitched, presumably allowing him to lock in extra earnings if he eventually returned to the rotation. But since he stayed in relief all year, he wasn’t able to push the value of the option up.
$2.5MM is peanuts for a major league club, especially one like the Yankees that generally runs one of the higher payrolls in the league. For how well Weaver pitched this year, this was one of the most no-brainer decisions of the offseason.
No brainer, let’s see what he can do for a full season as closer.
The Yankees go through closers liked sliced bread. Seems to be the deal these days.
Couldn’t be further from the case. It was Holmes for three years, before him Chapman for six, before him a bit of turnover between D-Rob/Betances and then Rivera for two decades.
He was certainly a surprise but I’m wondering why in such a situation his deal’s incentives didn’t have an alternative appearance trigger. He was never expected to close but if he didn’t start, how would he have ever reached 100 innings? I guess even Weaver was surprised by how his season went.
Maybe I’m just so used to Mariano Rivera that it’s hard to see closers going for small spurts. I wasn’t in on Holmes though- why did he lose the job?
Holmes lost the job by leading the league in blown saves.
Yet he has had a much better career. How do you know Weaver didnt just have a career year?
The Yankees made big mistakes by handing out giant contracts to Chapman and Britton. They aren’t going to repeat that.
A better idea would to bring back Robertson on a short deal rather than having an albatross contract with Holmes.
I agree. I posted in another thread that I think they will resign Robertson. I didnt realize Holmes’ contract was done
He can rent a loft in Brooklyn w that money. Ride the subway to games
Love Luke Weaver, but it would be nice to get Helsley, or a true closer. Weaver does a great job but he’s be an awesome setup man.
Helsley can be yours if Cashman makes a good offer.
Exactly my fear…. Cashman’s offer will almost always be substandard, which is why he rarely lands the guy needed. Soto is an obvious exception.
If the Yankees are going to spend prospect capital, I’d rather it be for a second or third baseman. They can always just sign Tanner Scott for just money.
Yeah, great call, Joe. Scott would be an excellent complement to Weaver and is a lefty.
Scott going to command $16 mill avv over 6 yrs no thank you! The days of paying $15-20 million for a Closer are over and poor allocation of funds. Weaver will Close
Agreed Weaver was amazing but going into the season with him as the number 1 guy in the bullpen would be a mistake. Helsley would be ideal. The Yanks have so many holes though gotta be careful where you put those chips but a top bullpen arm needs to happen.
Yeah I’m with you on this. If I could just pick the guy I like best on paper absent salary and etc I’d be looking at tanner Scott. Has the type of game the yanks like in a relief arm from what I hear and he’s lefty besides. Ultimately you can’t go wrong with having more than one quality late game/closing option. Weavers ability to give more length offers some very intriguing situational options as a stopper or fireman imo.
Agree completely with you, Pete.
Probably you can get Helsey for free if you take the contract of Arenado…
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Dodgers make that offer.
Yankees need a 3B. He is still a gold glover and solid offensively (good K% and walk%, though quality of contact s***).
Walk% is not good, sorry.
I would take that deal if I was the yanks, Arenados defense is still solid and the bat will probably be above league average. Him and Helsey for free? Yea I’d take that.
I’d predict zero chance of that (1) because of the PR optics, (2) because I don’t think the Cardinals are *that* extremely desperate to move payroll, and (3) because I don’t think Arenado’s remaining deal (3/$69 million) is that far underwater.
Arenado is obviously not the player that he once was, but he still put up 3.1 fWAR / 2.5 bWAR last season.
I don’t think the Cards care about the pr optics. I did read her and there that they wanna trade Arenado, though I’m not sure how trustable those reports are. But it seems like they are in rebuild mode…
I agree there’s a solid chance that the Cardinals trade Arenado.
Where I differ is that I don’t think they’ll throw in Helsley for free to get rid of Arenado’s contract.
Helsley should have broad interest. Virtually any contender has use for a very good high-leverage reliever with 1 year of control at reasonable salary. (Helsley’s projected 2025 arb salary is ~$7 million.) So I expect the Cardinals to shop him widely.
And I think Arenado’s remaining contract is close enough to fair value that the Cardinals could move him by eating something like $3 to $5 million per year of his contract. (So $9 to $15 million total over the 3 remaining years). Maybe not even that much if things break right for the Cardinals. Somebody will sign Bregman, and then the rest of this year’s 3B free agent class is extremely underwhelming.
The Cardinals are in rebuild and cut payroll mode, but I think they still want to get back quality prospects where they can (such as for Helsley).
Agreed. Arenado is hardly dead weight. Cards would be insane to not trade Helsley. He’s got one year of control, he’s on the wrong side of 30, and he’ll never be worth more than he is now.
We don’t spend real money on bullpen anymore. Weaver was in the scrap heap, Tim hill also, kahnle was signed relatively cheap while injured, Holmes was a throw in, mayza off the scrap heap, Hamilton was nobody, this is what we do, we have an elite pitching coach and we know what type of pitchers he’ll be able to get the most out of. It’s absolutely huge for us to save money in the pen since we very clearly need to buy hitters because we ha e the opposite of Matt Blake as our hitting coach.
You’re correct, with one exception…. We’ve never had a true, full-time, successful closer off that scrap heap.
True, part of that is too much faith in Holmes. As ridiculous as his stuff is there are too many variables when he pitches. In all honesty as much as we hated him for his blown saves, how many of them came on a string of weakly hit balls that didn’t leave the infield? More than a handful! I have a lot of faith in weaver, more than I ever did with Holmes, tho partly for the reasons above, but I would go after an alternative, proven end game guy to back him up.
But the Yankees Bullpen wasn’t good.
This guy has been a journeyman reliever and had a nice ride at the end of the season. Yanks would be foolish to think they can count on him being a legitimate closer moving forward.
Career journeyman reliever? He’s had 38 relief appearances prior to 2024. He’s been a failed starter just recently turned into reliever.
Failed starter turned into a reliever describes Mariano Rivera.
Clearly you haven’t seen him pitch this past season.
Do u think 2.5 million is too steep for the New York Yankees?
Their annual awards dinner costs more.
Idk, I kind of feel like we might be looking at that late career Andrew Miller type breakout. I’d trot him out as my closer and use those assets you’d have to give up for a Helsley elsewhere on my roster. If Weaver doesn’t pan out, make a midseason trade. Right now I just feel they have bigger fish to fry.
The Yankees aren’t going to do anything major until the Juan Soto situation is resolved.
Because they always put their eggs in one basket and can’t do more than one thing at a time?
Yes
Yankees will NOT wait for Soto since Boras known for dragging negotiations into spring training something very few teams will do when they have a roster to fill other holes. I see Soto signing early December so teams can build a roster around him.
MLB Winter Meetings is Dec. 9-12 in Dallas.
I will be very surprised if the Soto free agency drags out that long. There are only a few teams who can afford him.
love weaver but the downside to his rebirth is it reinforces the yankees’ believe that they can build a bullpen through matt blake reclamation projects. this year’s bullpen pulled it together just in time for the playoffs but they were a disaster through much of the summer. without soto (assuming he signs elsewhere) and with a rotation of 5-and-fly guys (schmidt/gil/stroman) the yankees will need an elite high-k bullpen to survive
I think they will in fact build an elite bullpen. Weaver is back. Don’t be surprised if Holmes is back on a 1 year or 2 year deal. That bowling ball he throws is real. But I think they will get an elite closer too.
Holmes will sign a 1 year deal with KC to rebuild his value.
Holmes should be done in New York. I’d rather bring back Houdini for one year
I am not against re-signing Holmes.
He is obviously a back up closer at this point, not the full time closer, and he is a really good relief pitcher.
He just needs to work on his pitch selection and tweak it.
The reason why he blew that many saves was that he was becoming predictable, which is a death nail for a High Leverage RP.
I’d take him back for the right price but somebody will pay Holmes money we aren’t comfortable paying him.
Baseball is a great game, this dudes been on a friggin journey already and he’s 30 years old. You like to see the busted prospects reappear as late bloomers, can’t help but root for these guys
Luke Weaver is a late bloomer, and is demonstrating why the Cardinals made him a 1st round draft pick a decade ago. Cardinals fans did not get to see him perform at the level that the Yankees fans got to see him in 2024, but then again he was part of what brought Goldy to the Cardinals. May Luke provide the Yankees fans with a great 2025 performance! Like so many former Cardinals, Cardinals fans will likely provide Luke with a standing ovation when the Yankees visit Busch Stadium in August 2025.
With his history…a no brainer…not so much. But he has done pretty well as a Yankee. So hoping he can keep it up. His command and pitch selection has improved. I like what the Yankees have done with him. It’s amazing. Bad for 29 teams, good for one cause they can see something in you no one else can.
I get the feeling the Yanks will be sorry. A regression is upcoming, you saw some of that already.
Where exactly did we see that? His stuff is filthy and he has the disposition to be a high leverage reliever.
I doubt that Brian Cashman has ever had an easier decision to make than picking up this option.
Now you go after tanner scott and Spencer turnbull