Reese Kaplan -- Who's Really the 2026 Closer for the Mets?

With the Winter Meetings slated to begin next week there has already been a bit of personnel activity around the league.  The latest one found the Baltimore Orioles inking Mets disaster Ryan Helsley to a two-year $28 million deal.  Apparently the folks hoping to continue contending are expecting that Helsley’s track record prior to the Mets and his late September strong finish after the horrific tenure with the Mets was a hiccup in an otherwise commendable and dominant career. 

With the big righthander off the board it now makes the price tags on the next tier of relievers escalate as fewer All Star level closers are now available to the highest bidder.  Heading the list, of course, is Edwin Diaz who is looking for a five year deal in the neighborhood of $22 million per season which would amount to a $110 million contract for a guy during his age 32 through 37 career years.  Obviously the Mets would like to have him return but at that rate it might be necessary to embrace an alternative as a complementary piece or Closer Plan B.  

Some were caught by surprise when word came out on Monday that the club indeed executed a reunion between David Stearns and his former Brewers closer Devin Williams.  After his rugged 2025 season in the Bronx most people have written him off already without considering what he did prior to his departure to Yankee Stadium.  As a refresher, during his career which started in 2019 he was absolutely unhittable.  For the period of 2019 through 2024 he went 27-10 with 68 saves that included 375 strikeouts in 235 innings pitched.  His ERA was a sparkling 1.83.  You’re talking Diaz level dominance.  Last year he escalated to 4-6 with a 4.79 ERA.  The only positive was his 90 Ks in 62 IP.  

How this new contract impacts the Mets is still the great unknown.  On the one hand you have a lethal level closer from Milwaukee who regularly made All Star teams while playing there.  His first foray into New York media coverage and pressure went about as well as Ryan Helsley's tenure across town.  However, the price paid ($15 million per season for three years) is in this day and age fairly modest for someone with a career ERA of 2.45 AFTER his horrific Yankees turn in 2025.

The politically correct aspect of this conjecture is that Williams has stated he is content to be the 8th inning guy and turn the ball over to Edwin Diaz for the 9th if by some increasingly unlikely happenstance that Sugar will make his way into the home team lockers at Citifield once again.  If that indeed happened then you can certainly tip your cap to David Stearns about run prevention if you're willing to write off the past year as a blip rather than a trend.  The trend was awesome before that.  

However, in what baseball business ledger does it suggest you pay approximately $22 million for Diaz, $15 million for Williams, $11 million for A.J. Minter, approximately $8 million for Brooks Raley and more money for the balance of the pen?  That means you're allocating about $60 million for relief pitching without considering how you're going to address the other obvious needs in the starting rotation, outfield, first base and the bench (if indeed you cast Baty as a starting caliber third baseman).   

Only Yankees fans would deride the decision to secure Williams for the pen.  If he's slated to become the primary closer with the Diaz $22 million annual salary used elsewhere, that's livable although some would say a step down.  Truth be told during the Diaz Mets reign he's managed a highly respectable 2.93 ERA but it reminds you that there were some years he was not quite the automatic save he was in other years (and is nearly a half a run worse than Williams).  Personally, I could live with Williams as the closer if the gap to reacquire Diaz become insurmountable.