An MLB expert loves the New York Mets‘ signing of veteran closer Devin Williams and believes the team landed an elite talent for a “discount rate.”
Heading into the 2025 season, a case could be made that Devin Williams was the best closer in baseball. He was a two-time All-Star and had three straight seasons with a sub-2.00 ERA. It’s why when the New York Yankees traded for him in the offseason, it was viewed as a major addition for the Bronx Bombers. However, his lone season with the team was a major disappointment.
He was so bad over the first few months of the year that he actually lost his job as the Yankees’ closer and never regained it. He finished the year with a career-worst 4.79 ERA and 1.129 WHIP. It is why some Mets fans groaned when the team gave him a $51 million deal this week.
However, according to MLB expert and former long-time relief pitcher Jerry Blevins, he believes New York got a fantastic player at a very team-friendly rate.
“I love it, and I think he is the second-best free agent pitcher, outside of Edwin Diaz, and I think this was at a discount price — three years, for $51 million,” Blevins said on SNY’s Baseball Night in New York. “I think if [last year] he was as consistent as he has been throughout his career, he’s getting Edwin Diaz area money because he is younger than Diaz.
Devin Williams stats: 18 saves, 4.79 ERA, 1.129 WHIP, 90 strikeouts, 25 walks, 62.0 innings
“The truth is, I think he’s an elite arm. The adjustments he made in the second half, the ability to show humility and get taken out of the closer’s role and still do your job in New York, on a walk year, with a brand new team, shows me he’s got character and guts. I really like this signing for them.”
Blevins is not the only baseball expert high on Williams’ ability to have a bounce-back season in 2026. “He should be viewed as someone who can be an elite option,” a high-ranking NL club official also told The Athletic at the start of MLB free agency.
Williams reportedly was garnering a lot of interest on the open market, including from the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds. Due to the belief that his 2025 performance was an outlier in what has been a very good seven-year career.
The Mets are still reportedly interested in re-signing Edwin Diaz, and Williams is allegedly open to being his setup man in 2026.
