Free agency could make Yankees bullpen look very different in 2025

There is plenty of deserved attention paid to Juan Soto, who is looking at hundreds of millions of dollars and what should be 30 suitors.

Gleyber Torres and Anthony Rizzo may have played their final games in pinstripes.

Gerrit Cole could opt out and trigger a Yankees decision. 

Understandably less attention-grabbing has been the fact the Yankees could lose three relievers who logged about half of their postseason bullpen innings. 

Clay Holmes, Tommy Kahnle and Tim Hill combined for 29 of the club’s 60 ⅔ playoff innings of relief, the trio three-fourths of the trust tree established by Aaron Boone.

Only Luke Weaver, whose club option the Yankees officially picked up Friday, logged significant October innings in relief and is assured of returning in 2025.

Though all three pending free agents expressed an interest in returning, a bullpen that the Yankees seem to rebuild every season will need to be rebuilt again. 

“It’s been incredible,” Holmes said about being a Yankee. “Just thinking back three and a half years when I got traded over here to now — there’s a lot of special people here, and the whole process, and the leaders in this clubhouse, and just the things that I’ve learned here, it’s been invaluable. 

“It’s something I’ll always remember and take with me.” 

Since Holmes was sent from the Pirates to the Yankees on July 26, 2001, 222 pitchers have logged at least 200 major league innings.

Holmes’ 2.69 ERA ranks seventh among the group. 

Holmes, who unleashed his power sinker with the Yankees and rode it to two All-Star Games, lost his closing spot this year but settled in as a setup man.

In 20 postseason innings in his Yankees career, he allowed three earned runs (1.35 ERA). 

The righty would hit the open market for a first time at 31 and is deserving of a multi-year deal for a higher annual average than the $6 million he made in 2024.

He can be replaced, but the Yankees would miss the steadiness of a pitcher whose results were better than his reputation. 

At the back of the Yankees bullpen for the past two seasons with Holmes has been Kahnle, a Yankee for five and a half seasons in two different stints.

The 35-year-old said he wants to return, but also has said that while he will be back in the majors next season, he does not know how much longer he will pitch. 

His results — a 2.11 ERA this season that marked his best before an excellent October that was marred by his rough eighth inning in Game 5 — have been solid, but he has also dealt with injuries the past two seasons. 

“I don’t think I have [a finish line] in mind, but I feel like it’s close,” Kahnle said recently. “It’s not this year, but I feel it’s getting closer. I’m getting older. More prone to injuries as of late.” 

Hill is a 34-year-old journeyman who was designated for assignment by the White Sox in June, latched on with the Yankees and immediately felt at home.

He essentially only threw fastballs — a four-seamer sinker and sinker — and laid off his slider in pitching to a 2.05 ERA in 35 games. 

He took down 8 ¹/₃ innings this October and allowed just one run, pitching well against opponents’ top lefties. 

“It’s been great,” Hill said recently. “Super blessed just to be on this team.” 

Also hitting free agency will be Jonathan Loaisiga, who underwent UCL surgery in April. 

Weaver will return and likely so will Ian Hamilton, Jake Cousins, Mark Leiter Jr. and Scott Effross.

Tim Mayza is entering the final year of arbitration, and the club owns a $5 million option on Lou Trivino.

The Yankees develop relief pitching well and have excelled at maximizing arms that other clubs could not figure out.

If they again shop in the bargain aisle and ignore the most-proven relievers on the market, relievers like Holmes and Kahnle would wind up elsewhere, and the Yankees bullpen would evolve again.