It doesn’t take a deep dive into the numbers to know what went wrong for the 2025 New York Mets, but the numbers still tell the story. An 83-79 finish. A pile of late-inning leads that slipped away on quiet weeknights and loud weekends. A bullpen that never quite stabilized. So when the front office moved quickly to land Devin Williams on a three-year deal north of $50 million, it felt like the beginning of something they’ve been missing for a while: intentionality.
A Big Arm Arrives, But Not the Final Piece
Williams brings the type of electricity the Mets have lacked outside of Edwin Diaz. His Airbender changeup still moves like it’s defying physics, and a career 2.45 ERA doesn’t happen by accident. He’s a high-strikeout, high-leverage reliever with the résumé to anchor a contending bullpen.
But Williams is also coming off a 4.79 ERA season with the Yankees, a stretch where his command wandered and never fully returned until late in the year. It’s not a red flag by itself, but it’s enough to remind the Mets that they can’t check the bullpen box just because they landed a star name. If this is the last major relief addition, the group is still exposed. They’ve lived this plotline before.
Why Edwin Diaz Still Sets the Ceiling
If you want to understand why the Mets’ offseason can’t stop with Williams, look at Diaz’s year. April was rough. His velocity dipped, his fastball location betrayed him, and speculation piled up. Then something clicked. By the end of the season, he was back to looking like the guy who intimidates hitters just by stepping on the mound, finishing with a 1.63 ERA.
Set aside the 2019 blip, when the dragless baseball turned every fly ball into a small physics experiment, and Diaz has been elite essentially every year he’s pitched. He offers a higher floor than Williams, a higher ceiling than Williams, and more stability than almost any reliever on the market. That is the pitcher the Mets cannot afford to lose.
And that’s what makes the next move so obvious. Williams is the Mets’ big first step. Diaz has to be the second.
A Pairing That Changes Everything
Imagine a bullpen where Diaz handles the ninth and Williams the eighth. It’s the kind of late-game duo that instantly changes how the Mets play close games. Fewer tense nights. Fewer unravelings. More chances to let the offense breathe and the rotation’s work go to good use. That pairing isn’t just good. It’s one of the best combinations in baseball.
But every bit of that vision hinges on keeping Diaz. He’s seeking a four- or five-year deal at more than $20 million per season, and the Mets are expected to pursue him aggressively. They should. There is no clearer path to raising the bullpen’s ceiling than locking him in place next to Williams.
The Mets Know What Comes Next
The Williams signing is the start of a solution, not the solution itself. If the Mets want a bullpen that stops leaking games and starts closing them, they need both of their stars lined up and ready. They know it. Diaz knows it. The rest of the league knows it, too.
The New York Mets finally have momentum in rebuilding the late innings. Whether they finish the job now depends on how far they’re willing to go to bring back the one reliever who turns this into something formidable.
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