Closer or setting up Edwin Díaz? Williams ready for either role with Mets

NEW YORK (AP) — Devin Williams could be the closer for the New York Mets next season. Or he might be a setup man for Edwin Díaz.

Each possibility sounds intriguing to Williams, who finalized a $51 million, three-year contract with the Mets on Wednesday.

The 31-year-old Díaz is a free agent after going 6-3 with a 1.63 ERA and 28 saves this year. The right-hander has 144 saves in six seasons with the Mets.

“If he comes back, I think we’re going to have a really good back end of the bullpen,” Williams said Friday in his first public comments since joining New York. “More good arms is always a good thing.”

Williams said his mindset won’t be impacted by his role.

“Just being prepared mentally and physically,” Williams said. “If you’re going in before the ninth inning, you just need to be ready earlier. I don’t think that really changes your mindset at all. It’s just a preparation thing.”

Williams said he is working on a cutter and a “gyro slider” to go along with his fastball and famed changeup. He is expected to help stabilize a bullpen that is in flux behind Díaz.

Left-handers Brooks Raley, A.J. Minter and Richard Lovelady as well as right-hander Huascar Brazobán are all under contract, but none of the quartet spent the entire 2025 season with the Mets.

Raley returned in June from Tommy John surgery. Minter didn’t pitch after April 26 due to a torn left lat. Lovelady and Brazoban each spent time with Triple-A Syracuse.

“They’re a team that wants to win,” Williams said. “Steve (Mets owner Steve Cohen) is doing all he can to put a winning product out on the field and I’d love to be a part of that.”

Williams spent last season with the New York Yankees, going 4-6 with a career-worst 4.79 ERA and 18 saves in 22 chances. He lost the closer’s job, regained it and then lost it again before finishing the year with four scoreless outings during the American League playoffs.

The two-time All-Star was traded from the Milwaukee Brewers to the Yankees last December. He acknowledged that the transition from Milwaukee — where he was the 2020 NL Rookie of the Year and twice won the Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year award while Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns was running the Brewers — was difficult.

But after the Yankees were eliminated from the postseason, Williams said he was open to re-signing with the team.

“It’s familiar now,” Williams said Friday. “I know what I’m going to need to do in order to get to the field, all the things like that. Getting home, just life stuff. So I’ve got all that figured out already. I’m comfortable there.”

Williams is 31-16 with a 2.45 ERA and 86 saves in 308 relief appearances over seven major league seasons. He has 465 strikeouts and 137 walks in 297 2/3 innings.

He becomes the latest member of the Mets brought over from the Yankees organization by Cohen and Stearns in recent years, including outfielder Juan Soto, pitcher Clay Holmes, catcher Luis Torrens and manager Carlos Mendoza.

Williams gets a $6 million signing bonus from the Mets payable in three equal installments on April 1 from 2026-28 and salaries of $15 million annually, of which $5 million per year will be deferred.

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