The Mets may not need to go outside the building to find Devin Williams insurance. The more interesting fallback might already be sitting on the roster in Nate Lavender.
That idea sounds a little out of left field at first, but the numbers give it real weight. Late in the 2026 season, Anthony DiComo posted a stat that stuck:
Fun, no-context statistics:
Nate Lavender: 11.44 K/9
Josh Hader: 11.42 K/9
- Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) September 23, 2026
Strikeout rate never tells the whole story, but Lavender’s overall body of work was loud enough to matter. He posted a 10.8 K/9 mark and struck out 32.9% of the hitters he faced, while pairing that swing-and-miss stuff with a 1.7 BB/9 rate and a 1.66 ERA. In other words, he wasn’t just missing bats - he was keeping free passes and damage down too.
What makes Lavender even more intriguing is how he did it. His fastball sat in the 19th percentile, yet opponents managed only a .115 average against it. That’s a tough trick to pull off without premium velocity, and it’s part of why he stands out as such a weird, effective arm.
He’s not built like a one-pitch specialist either. His arsenal is still a bit of a mystery, since none of his other three pitches held hitters under a .250 average against.
The changeup stands out the most: hitters batted .286 against it, but it still produced a 45.5% whiff rate. That’s the kind of pitch that can make a reliever’s profile swing in either direction.
Williams, of course, has shown that a reliever doesn’t need a huge menu to get the job done. He worked with just three pitches - a fastball, changeup and cutter - and still carried the kind of analytics-friendly profile that lights up Baseball Savant.
But the production never matched the expectations for the Mets. Too many walks and too many hits turned into a mess, with his hits per nine jumping from 6.5 to 9.5 and his WHIP ballooning.
Even with a rough year for the New York Yankees behind him, he posted a 1.12 WHIP there, then a 1.57 in his first season with the Mets.
Lavender isn’t being framed as a closer battle answer. He’s more of a guy waiting in the wings, the kind of reliever who can quietly slip into high-leverage work. And the splits suggest he’s not just a one-sided weapon, either: right-handers hit .114/.205/.286 against him, while left-handers hit .200/.200/.275.
So if the Mets are looking for protection behind Williams, they may not need to shop for it right away. Lavender already has the shape of a useful bullpen piece, and next season should start him in the mix for meaningful innings from the jump.
In Other News...
Mets Payroll Talk Just Put Their Next Two Seasons In Focus
The Mets are heading into the next two seasons with payroll management suddenly as much a part of the conversation as roster-building. The expectation is that the club will try to bring spending down to avoid financial penalties, which puts a different kind of pressure on the front office as it weighs how to keep the team competitive without simply pouring more money into the problem.
Marcus Semien, Sean Manaea and Jorge Polanco are among the names being used to illustrate the kinds of decisions ahead. The basic paths are pretty clear: let free agents walk without putting all of that money back into the market, lean harder on prospects and minor league signings, or structure future contracts so the annual hit is lighter even if the deal runs longer. None of that is especially flashy, but it could shape the Mets roster far more than any one move this winter. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Linked To An Awkward Phillies Fit For One Clear Reason
Alec Bohms name has surfaced in an offseason conversation the Mets probably did not expect to be part of, at least not this soon. MLB.coms Mark Feinsand floated New York as a possible fit for the Phillies free agent, a wrinkle built less on glamour than on roster logic. Bohm has already shifted from third base to first, and his appeal to the Mets would come from the bat more than the glove, especially in a role that could let them squeeze more value out of the left side of the plate.
For the Mets, the attraction would be pretty specific: a player who could work as part of a platoon and deepen the bench without forcing a major commitment to a full-time job. The catch is that Bohm is not the sort of name likely to linger if other clubs see the same fit, and the market would have to break a certain way for New York to stay in the mix. In other words, the idea makes baseball sense on paper, but it may take some help from the rest of the league before it becomes more than a passing offseason possibility. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Face A Bigger Offseason Problem Than Just One More Star
The Mets spent enough of 2026 trying to patch together an offense that the bigger issue this winter may not be the familiar hunt for one marquee bat. Even with the pitching holding relatively steady, the clubs run production fell off from 2025, and the gap showed up in a season that still ended with a losing record. There were signs of life after the break, when both the lineup and staff were better in the second half, but it was not enough to change the overall shape of the year.
So the offseason discussion in Queens is about more than simply adding another name to the top of the order. The Mets already began reworking things by moving on from hitting coach Jeff Albert, and they still have roster questions that could reshape the lineup, including the possibility of losing Bo Bichette. Even with that, the front office still has the same major shopping list it entered the winter with: an ace to anchor the rotation and a middle-of-the-order bat to lift an offense that never quite caught up. [Read more 🡒]