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Chaos After Seven”: Inside PJ Bishop’s New-Look Yankees Bullpen

If PJ Bishop’s rotation is the foundation of the new Yankee empire, his bullpen is the shock troop unit—eight very different arms with one shared mission: turn the last nine outs into a nightmare for opposing hitters.

On Opening Day, Bishop unveiled his first relief corps as GM/Manager, and it looks exactly like the philosophy he’s been preaching since he took over: power stuff, late movement, and zero fear of a little wildness—backed by specialists who can warp matchups in the Yankees’ favor.

Here’s how the pen shapes up as the gates open in 2025.

The Back-End Monsters
Devin Williams – The Trump Card

Officially listed as a setup man, Devin Williams is much more than that: he’s Bishop’s ultimate weapon.

With upper-90s velocity and that signature, bat-dissolving changeup, Williams is the prototype of what Bishop wants in a reliever—80-grade stuff, late life, and enough movement to survive in a bandbox. He’ll handle the eighth inning on most nights, but Bishop has already hinted that leverage will matter more than labels.

“If the heart of the order is up in the eighth,” Bishop said, “you’re going to see Devin.”

In other words: he’s the stopper, the matchup breaker, the fireman who can make the biggest threat of the night disappear.

Fernando Cruz – The Ninth-Inning Hammer

Closing duties belong to Fernando Cruz, the late-blooming right-hander whose story reads like a baseball odyssey and whose arsenal now screams “closer.”

Cruz combines a mid-90s fastball with a vicious slider and a diving splitter, all carrying plus or better grades for pure stuff. Command isn’t always pristine, but that’s a trade Bishop is more than willing to accept for a reliever who can miss bats at will.

When the Yankees are ahead in the ninth, expect the stadium playlist, the lights—and a lot of empty swings.

The Bridge: Power & Versatility
Luke Weaver – The Seventh-Inning Fireman

Luke Weaver slots in as the primary seventh-inning arm, a multi-pitch power reliever whose fastball/curve/changeup/cutter mix gives Bishop options against any part of the lineup.

Weaver brings mid-90s heat and above-average movement, with just enough control to live on the edges without constantly flirting with disaster. He can get righties and lefties out, handle multi-inning stints, and step into higher leverage if Williams or Cruz are unavailable.

He’s the perfect embodiment of Bishop’s mantra: attack, don’t nibble.

Mark Leiter Jr. – The Swiss Army Knife

Every bullpen needs a pitcher who can do a little bit of everything. For Bishop, that’s Mark Leiter Jr.

Leiter’s splitter is a true out pitch, and his deep repertoire—fastball, slider, curve, splitter, cutter—lets him change looks constantly. He’ll open the year in a middle-relief role, but his profile screams “matchup weapon”: he can be deployed to chase a strikeout with runners on, or to navigate a full inning when the game is still in the balance.

If someone emerges as an unsung hero of this group, Leiter is a good bet.

The Left-Handed Problem
Tim Hill – The Submarine Contrast

From the third-base side, hitters will see Cruz, Williams, Weaver—the over-the-top, high-octane, four-seam brigade.

Then the phone rings again, the gate opens, and Tim Hill jogs in: a left-handed submariner whose arm slot might as well be coming from the on-deck circle.

Hill doesn’t fit the classic “power arm” mold, but he fits something else Bishop loves: extreme ground balls and awkward at-bats. His sinker/slider combo bores in on lefties’ hands and saws righties off just enough to get weak contact. He’ll live in middle innings and high-leverage spots against tough left-handers.

Brent Headrick – The Emerging Specialist

Backing Hill is fellow lefty Brent Headrick, tabbed as the bullpen’s left-handed specialist. With a firm fastball, a sharp slider, and the ability to mix in a sinker and cutter, Headrick gives Bishop another look to throw at left-handed power bats in the late innings.

His role will be more targeted—“vs. LHB” is basically written on his bullpen chair—but on the right nights, he could swing entire series with a timely out or two.

Length & Youth
Ryan Yarbrough – The Long Man and Damage Control

When starters exit early or extra innings loom, the bullpen turns to Ryan Yarbrough.

While Yarbrough doesn’t light up the radar gun, he brings something every contender needs: innings. His command, funky angle, and willingness to change speeds make him the perfect long-relief option. He’ll also double as a mop-up arm when games get out of hand, protecting the high-leverage arms for tomorrow.

On a staff where velocity is the headline, Yarbrough is the change-of-pace paragraph.

Yoendrys Gómez – The Live-Arm Lottery Ticket

Rounding out the group is Yoendrys Gómez, the youngest member of the relief corps and perhaps the biggest wild card.

Gómez offers mid-90s velocity, a full mix of secondaries, and the kind of raw stuff that suggests his 40-grade current rating might just be the floor. Bishop will break him in with middle relief and mop-up duty, but if the strikes come more consistently, Gómez has the arsenal to force his way into more important innings as the season progresses.

A Pen Built in Bishop’s Image

Put them all together, and the Opening Day bullpen looks exactly like PJ Bishop promised when he took over:

Two elite back-end monsters (Williams, Cruz) with top-tier stuff.

A flexible bridge of power arms and pitch-mix specialists (Weaver, Leiter).

Multiple left-handed looks to neutralize the modern slugger (Hill, Headrick).

Length and upside to weather the grind of 162 games (Yarbrough, Gómez).

It won’t always be clean—Bishop has already made it clear he can live with the occasional walk or wild inning as long as the strikeouts and soft contact keep coming. But for the first time in a while, the Yankees enter a season with a bullpen that doesn’t just aim to hold leads; it aims to smother them.

In the new era of Yankees baseball, once the starter hands the ball off after six or seven, the message from the bullpen gate is simple:

Good luck.