The New York Mets were hoping for vintage Devin Williams when they signed him, but they've gotten something else.
New York Mets closer Devin Williams has had the definition of an uneven season, and in the process he’s helped ruin the great expectations the Mets had for both him and the team coming in.
The Mets signed Williams in the offseason for a three-year, $51 million contract to become their closer, and so far their return as been a 4.66 ERA, which is remarkably close to the poor numbers he posted across town with the New York Yankees.
Anthony DiComo of MLB.com asked Williams what he thinks of his season, and the Mets closer didn’t try to invent a new reality with his response.
“What do I think about my season? I think it’s been up and down,” Williams said. “I’ve struggled to find real consistency, I would say. Which, I don’t know, that’s just part of what comes with the job.
“It’s hard for me to find consistency. I’ll pitch and then fall out of rhythm, [have a] bad outing, get back into my rhythm. It’s just kind of been all over the place. I’ve had really good streaks. I’ve had, I’m not going to say really bad streaks, but I’ve had bad games -- like three or four [expletive] terrible games. But yeah, I’d say mostly it’s positive. Not all positive.”
But Williams was dominant early in his career in Milwaukee, and that’s the version the Mets thought they’d be getting when they signed him. The weren’t expecting a complete match with some of Williams’ superb numbers, but they did think he’d get reasonably close.
Both the stats and the eye test suggest he’s a different pitcher now, however. His fastball velocity has slid, and so has Williams’ confidence when that happens. DiComo also pointed out that the closer has rarely thrown his cutter, a pitch he emphasized back during the spring.
“I think I still have a lot of talent,” Williams said. “I have the ability to get guys out in this league and lock down some games or get big outs at the end of games, whatever they need.”
Williams’ produciton has put the Mets in a tough spot going forward. They’re paying him closer money but getting a lower level of performance, which raises the question of what to do about Williams going forward.
Unfortunately, Williams’ final comments about his situation mirror many of those from now-fired manager Carlos Mendoza, which is part of the reason Mendoza is out of work now after months of apologizing for his charges.
“We all expected to be better than what our record is right now,” Williams said. “It hasn’t happened. It was a lot of new pieces. Guys took a little bit to come together as a team, which isn’t a crazy thing, especially in a place like this. A lot of guys playing in New York for the first time. Stuff like that matters more than you can quantify with statistics.
“We have the pieces. The pieces have to do what they’re supposed to. We have to perform the way everyone is capable of.”
