{"id":107919,"date":"2025-09-30T23:42:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T03:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=107919"},"modified":"2025-09-30T23:42:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T03:42:18","slug":"yankees-closer-david-bednar-could-push-contract-interest-strong-postseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/09\/30\/yankees-closer-david-bednar-could-push-contract-interest-strong-postseason\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees Closer Could Push Contract Interest If His Postseason is Stellar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New York <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/09\/27\/two-pitchers-could-round-out-the-yankees-rotation-fourth-spot\/\" target=\"_self\">Yankees<\/a> have been seeking someone to occupy the closer role long-term. The club\u2019s current fill-in has been doing a decent job. If <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/09\/22\/yankees-must-rely-on-bullpen-in-october\/\" target=\"_self\">David Bednar<\/a> can impress Yankees management this October, he could see himself in the Bronx a bit longer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The closer role in baseball is one that you either develop or buy; drafting a closer is tough. The Yankees have been through their fair share of late-game stoppers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From the best closer of all-time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/riverma01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mariano Rivera<\/a>, to a few projects, the club needs an option to shut the door here and there. Bednar could be that guy, which is why he was brought to New York at the trade deadline.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the Yankees go deep into this postseason, it\u2019ll allow Bednar to truly showcase his reliability.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_105775\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-105775\" style=\"width: 684px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-105775\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26814669_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"684\" height=\"456\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26814669_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26814669_168400885_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26814669_168400885_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26814669_168400885_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26814669_168400885_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26814669_168400885_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/08\/USATSI_26814669_168400885_lowres.jpg 1557w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-105775\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aug 9, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees relief pitcher David Bednar (53) reacts after defeating the Houston Astros 5-4 at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>David Bednar in the Postseason for the Yankees<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bednar pitched in Game One of the American League Wild Card Series against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night. His line wasn\u2019t all that great, despite a promising start.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bednar pitched 2\/3 innings, allowing one earned run on two hits, one strikeout, and a 15-10 pitching to strike ratio. He struck out his first batter, then got a ground-out, but eventually allowed a single, and then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bregmal01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Bregman<\/a> doubled to drive in a run. This was the end of the outing for Bednar.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>His pitches were placed well overall. However, the few missed spots he had allowed the Red Sox to barrel up the baseball, putting it in play. Hitters were aware of his repertoire.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The right-hander was one of two relievers, along with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/weavelu01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luke Weaver<\/a>, who cumulatively allowed three runs for the Red Sox to take the Game One victory.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Bednar Needs to Be Hot in His Role this Postseason\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Three Yankees on the current staff have occupied the closer role at some point: Luke Weaver, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=willide03,willia005dev&amp;search=Devin+Williams&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Devin Williams<\/a>, and now Bednar.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Williams was originally signed to be the closer. His experience and accomplishments were impressive, which led to the Yankees investing in him. His struggles have taken him out of the role and summoned Bednar in his place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a Yankee, Bednar finished the 2025 regular season with 17 games finished and 10 saves in 24 2\/3 innings. Within two teams (the Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates), he finished 51 games, saving 27 games in 62 and 2\/3 innings. Bednar finished with a 2.30 ERA.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the Yankees continue to move through the 2025 postseason, Bednar needs to continue to be dominant and earn the role. The right-handed closer could get at least one to two more opportunities in the Wild Card Series.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the Yankees advance, Bednar could see more opportunity to gain some statistics and prove his case.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">David Bednar closing it out like he does <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fDZq0hTnbo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/fDZq0hTnbo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Talkin&#8217; Yanks (@TalkinYanks) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TalkinYanks\/status\/1964784567308742939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 7, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Contract Stipulations\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bednar\u2019s 2025 contract avoided arbitration. In 2026, he\u2019s once again set for arbitration. With a good showing, the closer could strike a case for retention in the Bronx. Bednar could see another one to two years in the Yankees bullpen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He does not necessarily need to continue as the closer if they add someone else, but a late-inning reliever role would fit the script. So far, the right-hander has proven that he\u2019s a contributor to the bullpen, and should at minimum avoid arbitration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New York Yankees have been seeking someone to occupy the closer role long-term. The club\u2019s current fill-in has been doing a decent job. If David Bednar can impress Yankees management this October, he could see himself in the Bronx a bit longer.\u00a0 The closer role in baseball is one that you either develop or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5126,"featured_media":105776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1071,35],"tags":[1156,5829,4266,2562,549],"class_list":["post-107919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-yankees","category-mlb","category-news","tag-alex-bregman","tag-david-bednar","tag-devin-williams","tag-luke-weaver","tag-mariano-rivera"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107919"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107944,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107919\/revisions\/107944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}