Did the NY Mets actually get Devin Williams at a bargain?

At first glance, Devin Williams’ new contract may look like a bargain for the New York Mets. Despite some analysts expressing concerns about Williams’ 2025 season, his three-year, $51 million deal is much cheaper than the four-year, $68 million projection MLB Trade Rumors offered on November 6.

Not everyone’s on board with the notion that the Mets just got Williams on the cheap, however. Foul Territory's AJ Pierzynski and MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds both said Williams was paid at a level equal to or greater than expected.

What emerges surrounding Williams and his $51 million is the notion that he may have been the beneficiary of a ripening contract landscape for relievers, not to mention the fact that Williams’ ultimate worth (and what the Mets just paid for him) will be viewed through the lens of whether or not Edwin Díaz returns to Queens.

Multiple MLB analysts suggest that Devin Williams was actually not a bargain for the Mets

When Foul Territory's Erik Kratz suggested that he expected something like a five-year, $80 million deal for Williams, Pierzynski pointed out that the three years over $51M that Williams did bag amounts to a nearly identical AAV. 

To Kratz’s point, the Mets avoiding a longer deal for more money, but Pierzynski noted that five years is difficult to come by for any reliever, much less Williams.

Over at MLB Network, Reynolds’s assertions were more in line with Pierzynski's, as he suggested that $51 million was probably more than Williams himself expected to be paid.

Reynolds pointed to two factors that may have led to Williams’ handsome payday: a rising price for relievers overall, and the report that Williams and his camp were in negotiations with as many as 10 clubs, which naturally increased his price. On the first point, consider the fact that Williams’ $17 million AAV is more than Boston Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman was paid last season.

Interestingly, Reynolds also noted the relationship between Williams and Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, who was running the Milwaukee Brewers when Williams was there.

“He became the GM (in Milwaukee) when this guy broke into the big leagues,” Reynolds said of Stearns. “He puts him in that ‘pen (in Milwaukee), and then he makes him a closer, then he goes to the Mets. So he's watched the maturation of Devin Williams. And if there's a guy sitting out there right now saying, ‘I can help you get back on track; (last year) was no big deal,’ it would be David Stearns.”

Getting back on track is certainly a goal for Williams, not to mention a necessity for the Mets if they don’t end up bringing Díaz back. It also has everything to do with whether or not $51 million will ultimately be viewed as a bargain or not.

To be clear, Williams was more effective during his ‘nightmare’ Yankees season than the prevailing media narrative will allow you to see. His ERA might have been yucky (4.79), but his underlying metrics, such as strikeout rate and expected batting average against (.195), were low-key good.

Williams' 2025 season was really a tale of two halves, with the first phase of his pinstripes tenure dooming his numbers and reputation. After August 9, Williams had a 2.50 ERA with a .432 opponent OPS, and he didn’t allow a single homer over his final 23 outings of the regular season and postseason. If the Mets get that version of D-Will (also known as the Brewers version), then this deal will be rightfully labeled a bargain.