The Mets may have bigger questions elsewhere, but the Devin Williams situation still hangs over the 2027 blueprint.
Williams was never really supposed to be the whole answer in the ninth inning. The original idea, as it was framed, was to pay him like a closer and use him as part of a tandem with Edwin Diaz. That makes the Mets’ next move pretty clear: David Stearns should not lock himself into treating Williams as the automatic closer if better options emerge, whether that comes through free agency or a trade.
Williams’ 2026 season was uneven, but not disastrous. He blew three saves, with two of them coming a week apart on July 6 and July 12, and the other on April 19. He was actually more effective when a save was on the line, posting a 2.33 ERA in 20 save chances, compared with a 6.33 ERA in 21.1 innings without a save situation.
That split matters because it’s not the first time his closer profile has been questioned. With the Yankees in 2025, the same pattern showed up, only worse: a 4.15 ERA in save situations and a 5.60 ERA when a save wasn’t in play. The numbers don’t exactly scream untouchable closer, even if the save-situation results are better than the rest.
Free agency doesn’t offer a clean fix. Adrian Morejon is the biggest name, though he hasn’t really spent much of his career in the closer role. David Bednar comes with his own baggage, including a demotion to the minors late in his Pirates run.
The Mets have been down this road before. Last winter, when the Williams-Diaz pairing didn’t come together, they pivoted to Luke Weaver, who at least gave them a workable option after some experience finishing games for the Yankees.
A similar approach had been taken with David Robertson in 2023, when he was brought in to set up Diaz before Diaz’s WBC injury changed everything. Robertson wound up sharing closing duties early with Adam Ottavino and later took the job full-time.
The Mets also had that kind of setup in mind with A.J. Minter in 2025, but injuries wrecked most of his time in New York.
So the answer doesn’t have to be a clean replacement for Williams right away. What makes more sense is real competition for the ninth inning.
Bryan Abreu looks like he has closer ability. Emilio Pagan has saved 32 and 25 games in the last two seasons, though before that he had never reached 10 saves in a season outside of 2019 with the Tampa Bay Rays.
The broader point is simple: the Mets shouldn’t act as if Williams is the locked-in solution when that was never really the plan to begin with. Several of the game’s best or most important closers don’t cost much, and the Mets can keep searching for the next Louis Varland. But they should do it with flexibility, not blind faith in Williams as the answer.
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His place in club lore was already secure long before the team retired his No. 36 in 2021, making him just the third player in franchise history to receive that honor. Koosmans 140 wins and 3.07 ERA speak to the consistency he brought over a long run in Queens, and his passing is a reminder of how much of the Mets earliest success was built on players whose impact still echoes through the organization. [Read more 🡒]