Edwin Diaz isn't the only departed NY Mets free agent we'll compare to Devin Williams

Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz will be the two departed free agents fans reference most. Every Jorge Polanco or Bo Bichette strikeout and more so every Devin Williams blown save will have New York Mets fans furiously ripping out their hair. Two incredibly popular players leaving in back-to-back days created a powerkeg of rage for a large part of the fanbase.

Dissecting each and every aspect of those players is a guarantee. You might not have thought of it yet, but we’re also going to have some discussions about another Mets free agent, too.

No one wanted him back and yet every bit of success Ryan Helsley has with the Baltimore Orioles is guaranteed to have David Stearns doubters in an uproar because…that’s just how it goes.

Ryan Helsley was an easy pass in free agency for the Mets, it won’t stop the discussion

It’s not going to be exclusively a Williams vs. Diaz. Helsley re-entering the conversation as a top closer in baseball is sure to stir up some debate. He got paid $14 million in 2026 to rectify his career in Baltimore. There’s an additional $14 million player option for 2027 which is sure to hold the Orioles back if he pitches like he did with the Mets.

With Helsley, it’s about buying into what he did prior to joining the Mets and some of the red flags before the St. Louis Cardinals traded him to New York. From 2022-2024, Helsley saved 82 games with a 1.83 ERA. He led the league with 49 saves in 2024, finishing 9th in the NL Cy Young.

The pressure Helsley is facing in Baltimore can’t compare to even his lesser role with the Mets last year as a setup man for Diaz. Even with the team’s disappointing 2025 season and his arrival with some of the same questions we have about Williams, he’ll be able to hide from the scrutiny in the more faded lights of Baltimore than he did while in New York. It’s a good situation for him to join a team with expectations without the same urgency the fans in places like the Big Apple will demand.

Helsley should be considered as much a candidate as Williams to rebound strongly. In those same three seasons from 2022-2024, Williams saved 65 games for the Milwaukee Brewers with a 1.66 ERA. Rivals with Helsley at the time, it’s going to be the second place Mets fans look whenever a ninth-inning lead is blown.

The real irony is that if Helsley had the kind of collapse he did for the Mets in 2025 anywhere else he might have been a consideration for David Stearns. Instead, he’s a failed experiment.