Luke Weaver has signed a two-year $22 million contract with the New York Mets on Wednesday, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The New York Yankees, therefore, need to look elsewhere for relief help. It’s also surprising that the Yankees reportedly weren’t in the bidding for Weaver after they were rumored to have a genuine interest in retaining his services the day prior.
The Yankees could look to both free agency and the trade market to be able to bolster their bullpen, which is currently extremely sketchy outside of David Bednar. Weaver struggled in the second half of 2025, but it’s not going to be easy to replace his 3.22 ERA and 191 strikeouts in 162 innings from the end of 2023 onwards.
It also doesn’t help that, before the Weaver news, Brad Keller signed the same contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Keller is coming off a breakout season with the Chicago Cubs. He struck out 27.1% of batters, had a 56.6% ground ball percentage, and limited damage contact with his 97.1 miles per hour fastball on average.
By this time in free agency, the creme of the crop relievers have already signed, so now there are only middle-tier pitchers available outside of gauging the trade market.
Before anyone even thinks about it, no. The Yankees aren’t acquiring potentially the best reliever in baseball in Mason Miller; it just isn’t going to happen.
Megill is probably the best reliever here, and the 32-year-old has two years of control with the Milwaukee Brewers currently. The power-throwing righty is coming off a 2.49 ERA All-Star season where he had a 31.3% strikeout rate, 33.7% chase rate, and also a 31.4% whiff rate. A deal would be super enticing for the Yankees because his average fastball velocity is 99.92 miles per hour. They would also appreciate that he only gave up three home runs in 47 innings en route to getting 30 saves this past season.
There’s also a decent chance that the Brewers trade Megill, as they have Abner Uribe waiting in the wings, and he’s quietly one of the league’s most underrated relievers. Milwaukee has done this in the past with Josh Hader and, obviously, Devin Williams last season, who was traded to New York. The Brewers could be looking to trade their current closer and recoup a young pitcher that’s either in the majors currently or right on the cusp of making it there.
Megill has a four-seam fastball and knuckle curve in his arsenal, with the latter having a 48.9% whiff rate this past season and an absurd 55% whiff rate in 2024.
It would be hysterical if New York acquired him. Megill called it out for using torpedo bats in the opening series and said that the MLB would let it slide because “It’s the Yankees.”
It seems like his energy would fit like a glove with them if they ever did pair up. His brother, Tylor, has also pitched with the Mets since 2021, so it could be a seamless fit in New York.
The Yankees know a ton about Pete Fairbanks, as they’ve faced him countless times in the AL East in his career 24.1 innings against them with the Tampa Bay Rays. Fairbanks is also 32 years old, got his $11M club option declined, and is coming off a 2.83 ERA season.
He also struck out 59 batters in 60.1 innings with his 97.3 miles per hour fastball and slider combination for the most part. Fairbanks also throws a changeup and cutter and his slider, changeup, and cutter all had over a 28% whiff rate on them.
Fairbanks is above average in barrel percentage, walk rate, chase rate, whiff rate, and had a 24.1% strikeout rate in 2025.
The downside with Fairbanks is that he allows his fair share of damage contact, and he’s in the 26th percentile in average exit velocity and 29th percentile in Hard-Hit %. He also has Raynaud’s syndrome, which at times can be challenging for him in the cold when it comes to gripping and feeling the ball. The syndrome also constricts blood flow to his fingers and causes his fingers to turn white and ultimately lose sensation in cold environments.
A deal that makes sense for Fairbanks would be in the two-to-three-year range. If anybody goes four years for him, then you can bow out.
Seranthony Dominguez is another intriguing hard-throwing right-hander who’s been in the AL East since the second half of 2024 with the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays this season. Dominguez is 31 years old, coming off a 3.16 ERA season, and struck out 79 batters in 62.2 innings during the regular season.
The biggest flaw with him this season was his absurd 13.8% walk rate, which ranked him in the first percentile in the entire league. This was Dominguez’s highest walk rate since 2019 at 10.9 when he was with the Philadelphia Phillies.
There’s a lot to like about him, as he had a 30.3% strikeout rate, 33.3% whiff rate, didn’t get hit hard, and had an above-average ground ball percentage as well. Dominguez’s pitching repertoire includes a four-seam fastball, sweeper, splitter, sinker, and curveball. His nastiest pitches are the sweeper and splitter as they had a 49.1% and 49.5% whiff rate on them, respectively.
Similar to Fairbanks, a two to three-year contract makes the most sense. Dominguez doesn’t quite have the notoriety or peak of Fairbanks, but strikeouts are king nowadays, so I wouldn’t be surprised at really anything that he got.
The Yankees need to wake up and make an addition already, outside of re-signing Amed Rosario and selecting Cade Winquest in the Rule 5 draft from the St. Louis Cardinals. It’s officially time for owner Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman to upgrade the roster.
They need to actually spend some money and get their closer, Bednar, some help in the bullpen with either one of these guys. It would be borderline malpractice if New York’s bullpen looked like this at the beginning of the 2026 season. The Yankees are known for turning one man’s trash into another man’s treasure with their bullpen. It would be nice, though, to get a proven and known commodity, like how they did with Bednar at the trade deadline.
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