Report: Brewers ink Williams to 1-year, $7.25M deal with 2025 option
The Milwaukee Brewers and All-Star closer Devin Williams avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $7.25-million contract with a club option for 2025, a source told ESPN's Jeff Passan.
Williams will earn a base salary of $7 million this season, while the option is worth $10.5 million or a $250,000 buyout, Passan reports. He also gets $1 million worth of escalator clauses in 2025.
Assuming the option is exercised, the deal buys out Williams' final two years of arbitration. He'll become a free agent after the 2025 season.
The deal came only a few hours after Williams and the Brewers exchanged arbitration figures following the 8 p.m. ET deadline. His contract is close to what he would've asked for in a hearing; Williams filed at $7.3 million, while the team countered at $6.65 million.
Williams, 29, is coming off his best season as the anchor of Milwaukee's bullpen. He earned his second career NL Trevor Hoffman Reliever of the Year Award in 2023 after collecting 36 saves along with a 1.53 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, and 87 strikeouts over 58.2 innings.
For his career, he owns a 1.89 ERA, 2.42 FIP, and 1.03 WHIP with 54 saves and a 14.2 K/9 rate across 219 appearances. Williams was named NL Rookie of the Year and won his first Hoffman Award during the shortened 2020 campaign, then took over as the Brewers' closer in the middle of 2022 after the team traded Josh Hader.
The Brewers were also able to avoid arbitration with their six other eligible players, including ace Corbin Burnes and shortstop Willy Adames.