NY Mets, Luke Weaver, and Devin Williams are primed to embarrass Yankees coaching

If you've been noticing heavy traffic on the Throgs Neck heading into Queens from the Bronx, there's nothing to worry about. The slowdown has been caused by the mass exodus of the New York Yankees bullpen as they flee to join the New York Mets, with Luke Weaver joining former (and now current) teammate Devin Williams in blue and orange.

On the surface, this fits into the "little brother" narrative that Yankees fans love to taunt the Mets faithful with. Deep down, there's more to the story, and if the Mets are successful in their endeavor, not only will they have the super bullpen they desire, but they'll expose and embarrass the Yankees' coaching staff in the process.

With Devin Williams and Luke Weaver in the fold, the Mets can expose the Yankees' shoddy coaching

It's understandable to have reservations regarding Devin Williams. You're not wrong to have concerns about Luke Weaver. However, if this were a year ago, when these acquisitions happened, fans would be delirious with joy, having acquired two of the most elite relievers the game has to offer.

And that's exactly what the Mets may have done. When Williams first signed with the Mets, he made some vague comments about mechanics and pitch selection being the causes of his 2025 struggles. The implication being that the Yankees were asking him to do things with which he wasn't comfortable.

Looking at the pitch utilization from 2025 versus the rest of his career, that might be the case. If you exclude his injury-shortened 2024 campaign, it becomes clear that the Yankees had him pitch differently than he did during his Brewers heyday.

From 2021 through 2023, the most Williams used his fastball was 39% of the time in 2023; meanwhile, in 2025, the Yankees had him throw it 47.4% of the time. That reduced his changeup usage from a low of 57.9% in 2023 to only a 52.4% utilization of the Airbender in 2025.

Logically, more fastballs would make the changeup play up more, but for Williams, it works in reverse. The result was more fastballs in the zone and more hitters laying off those nasty, darting off-speed pitches. The 37.3% whiff rate on the Airbender, while still a great number, is the first time that pitch came in at under 43% whiffs for him since 2019.

Weaver had his own issues with the Yankees' recommended adjustments to help his case of pitch tipping, saying it made him think too much and prevented him from going out and attacking hitters.

Weaver was lights out to start the year, making 24 appearances and throwing 25.2 innings to the tune of a 1.05 ERA through May 31. On June 2, he was put on the IL and expected to miss four-to-six weeks, but he'd be back in less than three, returning to action on June 20.

From that point onward, he'd make 40 appearances, throwing 39 innings and posting a 5.31 ERA. It'd be easy to say that some of his issues were the result of coming back too quickly from injury, and perhaps that caused him to tip his pitches and began the brutal cycle of adjustments.

The Mets' pitching lab rebuilt Luis Severino after he looked completely broken in his final season with the Yankees. That same pitching lab turned Clay Holmes into a solid starter, after he bombed his final month in pinstripes and ended up being replaced by Weaver as the Yankees' closer in the 2024 playoffs.

If the Mets are able to get this latest pair of Yankees imports back on track, it will be clear that the real issue lies with the Yankees' coaching apparatus and not the now numerous hurlers who have seen better days since leaving the Bronx.