The Brewers declined their $10.5 million club option upon closer inspection Devin Williamssaid ESPN's Jeff Passan. Williams will receive a $250,000 buyout and remain under team control via arbitration for the 2025 season, with MLBTR's Matt Swartz projecting he will make $7.7 million in his final season before free agency .

The move is hardly surprising considering the Brewers expect to save around $2.5 million by declining Williams' option. Had he been healthy, the 30-year-old might have been able to put together a season in which he played well enough to pursue that option, but multiple stress fractures in his back meant Williams was unable to pitch until late July this year. Once back on the mound, Williams was nothing short of dominant, posting a sensational 1.25 ERA and 2.06 FIP in his 22 regular-season appearances this year. In his limited playing time this season, Williams posted his typical elevated walk rate of 12.5% ​​but, as usual, made up for it with an exceptional strikeout rate, striking out a whopping 43.2% of opponents this year.

As startling as these numbers may seem, they are generally not a product of sample size. Williams has been one of the best relievers in the sport since his breakout 2020 shortened season, earning NL Rookie of the Year honors, a top-7 finish in NL Cy Young Award voting and even being named the MVP elected. Since that incredible rookie year, Williams has posted a 1.70 ERA in 222 innings, which is 248% better than the league average by ERA+. That's the second-best ERA in baseball among qualified relievers in the last five years, just behind Emmanuel Clase. Meanwhile, Williams is only in third place with a 2.24 FIP Edwin Diaz And Matt Brashand his 40.8% strikeout rate is second only to Diaz.

One of baseball's best relievers of the last half-decade, Williams has been crucial to Milwaukee's success in recent years, particularly following the departure of Josh Hader at the 2022 trade deadline. While it might be difficult for the club to replace Williams in 2025 and beyond, the Brewers managed to remain successful even after the deal in 2024 Corbin Burnes to the Orioles last winter. Given that the first half of 2024 showed that the Brewers were more than capable of getting by without Williams thanks to excellent performances Trevor Megill, Bryan Hudson, Jared KingAnd Joel Payamps In the bullpen, it would hardly be a surprise to see Williams get a deal at some point this winter.

MLBTR ranked Williams at No. 4 on our current list of the top 35 offseason trade candidates, and even club GM Matt Arnold admitted last month that the Brewers need to keep an “open mind” about the possibility of dealing Williams this winter to send to another location. Of course, this does not mean that a trade is guaranteed. Even when the Brewers parted ways with Burnes, they decided to keep the shortstop Willy Adames for his last season as team boss. Adames expects to turn down a qualifying offer this winter and sign elsewhere, but his resurgent 4.8 fWAR season proved crucial to the club's offense all year long as the Brewers won their second NL Central won titles in a row. If the offers for Williams aren't tempting enough, or the club decides that Williams is too important to the club's hopes of winning in 2025 to part ways with them, it's entirely possible that he could end up for his last Trip will remain with the club as part of a free agency arbitration process.