Stearns Exudes Calm Amidst the Storm

Some in the fan base might be in shambles, but David Stearns isn’t panicking. He was his typical steady self on Tuesday, talking to reporters after the Mets lost the best closer in baseball to the Dodgers.

“I’m very optimistic about where our offseason is headed,” he said at the winter meetings in Orlando, Fla. “We’ve certainly got work to do, but there are a lot of good players out there, and I am confident that we’re really going to like where our team is once we get to Opening Day.”

The Bullpen

The Dodgers reportedly signed Edwin Díaz to a three-year, $69 million contract Tuesday morning. The Mets offered three years and $66 million with modest deferrals. Stearns said he could not comment on that because the deal has not been made official.

Díaz will be hard to replace. He went 6-3 with a 1.63 ERA and 0.87 WHIP this year and saved 28 games in 31 tries. He struck out 98 in 66 1/3 innings and made the All-Star team. His xERA, xBA, whiff and strikeout percentages were all in the 99th percentile.

Now, Stearns said, Devin Williams is their closer.

“We’re very comfortable with that,” he said. “I’ve certainly seen Devin perform at a very high level for a long time. I have full confidence that he can be one of the best relievers in baseball. I think he’s very motivated to do that, and I’m looking forward to watching that.”

Williams, 31, had a rough 2025 with the Yankees. He lost the closer job 10 outings into the season, regained it when his replacement, Luke Weaver, suffered an injury in early June, then lost it again in early August after blowing back-to-back saves. He went 4-6 with a 4.79 ERA and 1.13 WHIP, and struck out 90 in 62 innings. Williams saved 18 games in 22 attempts.

Advanced stats, however, show that Williams may have been a victim of bad luck. His xERA (3.09, 86th percentile), xBA (.195, 95th percentile), chase percentage (97th percentile), whiff percentage (99th percentile) and strikeout percentage (97th percentile) all earned high marks.

“He got pretty unlucky; the underlying ingredients were still pretty good,” Stearns said. “What excites me about Devin is he’s not just saying ‘Oh, I got unlucky last year.’ He’s saying, ‘I want to get better, and there’s another gear, and yes, I know my stuff last year was really good and the results probably didn’t necessarily reflect how good I actually was, but I can actually get better.’

“So I think Devin is looking for another level, which is pretty cool.”

Williams was excellent in his six years with the Brewers, by both traditional and advanced stats, pitching to a 1.83 ERA over 235 2/3 innings, striking out 14.3 batters per nine innings, and making the All-Star team twice.

Will the Mets look for more bullpen help?  “I think we’ll see,” Stearns said. “We’re having plenty of conversations. I think there are different ways to build a bullpen, and we’re going to continue to explore all of them.”

Fan Favorites

The Mets have now lost Díaz to free agency and traded homegrown outfielder Brandon Nimmo. Stearns was asked if a player’s popularity with the fans is something he considers.

“That is something, broadly, that we talk about a lot,” he said. “We have a lot of those conversations. We’ve had them throughout this offseason. We had them throughout last offseason as well. And it is part of it. I think we do our best to weigh the full impact of any player on our team, on our organization, and we make the best decision we can.”

What Stearns can weigh is the impact of the owner.

“The resources that we have here are an enormous advantage,” he said. “As long as we allocate those resources intelligently, they’re going to continue to be an enormous advantage. I think Steve (Cohen) gives us everything we need to have not only a great roster, but a competitive organization in every single respect. I think our players and coaches recognize that. And I have no doubt that we’re going to continue to have the resources we need to compete at a very high level.”

He added on SNY’s “Mets Hot Stove” that part of his optimism is the Mets’ top-end talent at the major-league level and one of the best farm systems in baseball. He said prospects like Carson Benge, Jett Williams, Ryan Clifford and A.J. Ewing all could be ready to make an impact in the big leagues soon.

And separately, in answering a question, he said Díaz’s departure doesn’t necessarily change his thinking on Pete Alonso‘s free agency.

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