ORLANDO — Before he headed across town, Devin Williams never got a formal offer from the Yankees — and never circled back to ask for one, either, according to Brian Cashman.
Following a rocky first and only season in pinstripes, Williams landed a three-year, $51 million deal from the Mets last week.
Cashman said Sunday that he had at least one conversation with the reliever’s agent this offseason and told him to keep the Yankees abreast of Williams’ market.
“But he never called me back — I’m not saying he needed to,” Cashman said at the Winter Meetings.
Cashman had acquired Williams from the Brewers last December, hoping the high-end closer would elevate the Yankees bullpen.
Devin Williams throws a pitch during the Yankees’ Oct. 7 game. Charles Wenzelberg
But Williams, who admittedly took some time to get comfortable in New York, got off to a tough start and lost the closer’s job twice before finishing the season strong.
In his introductory conference call after signing with the Mets, Williams indicated that he pitched better than his surface numbers (a 4.79 ERA) would suggest, a sentiment Cashman echoed.
Brian Cashman addresses reporters during his Oct. 16 press conference. Charles Wenzelberg
“I would agree that his season was better than how the normal numbers look. I would agree he had a handful of games that destroyed the overall numbers,” Cashman said. “Bringing him back, I wouldn’t have made the phone call if it wasn’t a possibility, but we didn’t make an offer.”
The Yankees thought they were done with the Sonny Gray saga, but they got dragged back into it last week after the veteran right-hander was traded to the Red Sox.
Gray said he welcomed being in “a place where it’s easy to hate the Yankees” and claimed he “never wanted to go there in the first place.”
Leading up to the Yankees acquiring him at the 2017 deadline, Cashman said Gray had told a number of different people — including their minor league video coordinator, Gray’s former roommate at Vanderbilt — that he wanted to be a Yankee.
It was not until after the 2018 trade deadline, according to Cashman, that Gray asked to meet with the GM and came clean about his true feelings regarding New York.
“He said, ‘I thought you were going to trade me,’ ” Cashman said. “I was like, ‘Publicly, I’m out trying to get starting pitching and bullpen. Why would I trade a starter when we need pitching badly?’ … That’s when he told me he never wanted to be here. He hates New York. This is the worst place. He just sits in his hotel room. … I said, ‘Well it’s a little late now.’ So then I said, ‘But you said you wanted to be traded here.’ He said, ‘My agent, Bo McKinnis, told me to do that. He told me to lie. It wouldn’t be good for my free agency to say there’s certain places I don’t want to go to, so just go out and make sure you say …’
“So he told me after being with us for a very long time.”
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Cashman said he does not expect to have Anthony Volpe (left shoulder surgery) before May. … Free agent outfielder Kyle Tucker recently visited the Blue Jays spring training facility, but Cashman said he has not done the same with the Yankees facility at Steinbrenner Field.