The Yankees finally got their major bullpen piece with less than four hours remaining in Major League Baseball’s trade deadline on Thursday, acquiring closer David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Per reports, minor-league catcher Rafael Flores, who was the Yankees’ No. 8 prospect and is batting .279 with 16 home runs with 60 RBI across Double-A and Triple-A this season, No. 14 prospect Edgleen Perez, and outfielder Brian Sanchez.
A 30-year-old right-hander with one more year of control, Bednar is enjoying a bounceback season after a disastrous 2024 and a brief demotion to Triple-A earlier this year.
In 42 appearances (38.0 IP), Bednar has a 2.37 ERA, 17 saves, a 1.105 WHIP, and 51 strikeouts compared to 10 walks. Those numbers are more in line with his dominant stretch between 2021 and 2023, in which he garnered a pair of All-Star appearances, led the league with 30 saves in 2023, and boasted a 2.25 ERA across 179.2 innings.
It all went wrong last season, though, as he posted a career-worst 5.77 ERA across 62 appearances.
His resurgence in 2025 at least suggests that the Yankees have bolstered the back end of their bullpen, which was a major question mark with just two months left in the season.
Devin Williams, who was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers over the winter, went from an elite closer to having the worst season of his career in his debut campaign with the Bronx, posting a 5.01 ERA in 45 appearances. He lost the closer job to Luke Weaver, who then landed on the injured list with a strained hamstring and has not been the same since, possessing a 7.07 ERA since his return.
Bednar’s existence in the majors is predicated on power, which provides an imposing presence in a bullpen that has seriously lacked that recently. His 33.1% strikeout rate ranks within MLB’s 95th percentile and his average fastball velocity of 97.1 mph is in the 89th. He also possesses a 77-mph curveball that has a 31.8% putaway rate.
