The Mets placed closer Devin Williams on the 15-day injured list Monday with a right shoulder strain, a move that forces New York into a closer-by-committee arrangement for the remainder of the season, according to MLB.com and Amazin' Avenue. To fill his roster spot, the club recalled right-hander Jonathan Pintaro.
Williams' injury did not come as a total surprise. He was unavailable for a game against Cleveland earlier on the road trip because of what the Mets described as right arm fatigue, MLB.com reported. He returned last Friday in Pittsburgh to pitch in a non-save situation but allowed two earned runs in an inning of work, and three days later the team decided to shut him down and send him to the IL. Amazin' Avenue noted that Williams has allowed three earned runs in just two innings pitched this month, a stretch that ultimately led to the injured list stint.
Interim manager Andy Green told reporters the Mets do not view the injury as a long-term concern. "I know he wants to compete for us before this year is out," Green said, according to MLB.com. "And I know he wants to get on the mound and finish strong."
A Difficult First Year in Queens
Williams is in the first season of a three-year, $51 million contract with the Mets, and by his own standards it has been a rocky introduction to New York. Across 38 2/3 innings, Amazin' Avenue reported that he has posted a 4.66 ERA and a -0.6 bWAR, numbers that stand in sharp contrast to his 3.09 FIP, a metric suggesting he has pitched better than his run prevention indicates. MLB.com listed his ERA at 4.66 over 42 appearances, consistent with the season-long struggles described by Amazin' Avenue.
Williams has struck out 51 batters, walked 21, and carries a 1.66 WHIP on the year. His numbers have been skewed by a handful of disastrous outings rather than steady erosion, according to Amazin' Avenue, which pointed out that he allowed four earned runs while recording only one out on two separate occasions this season. Outside of those blowups, he has had solid stretches, but the volatility has made him a difficult closer to trust in high-leverage spots.
A Bullpen Already Stripped Down
The timing of Williams' shoulder issue compounds an already thin Mets bullpen. Around the same period that Williams began experiencing arm fatigue, the club traded away its next four highest-leverage relievers ahead of the deadline: Luke Weaver, Brooks Raley, Huascar Brazoban and A.J. Minter, according to MLB.com. That leaves New York with limited proven late-inning options at a moment when it needs to identify a replacement closer.
Right-hander Daniel Duarte stepped in to record a save in Williams' absence last week, both outlets reported. Beyond Duarte, MLB.com identified hard-throwing relievers Dedniel Nunez and Jefry Yan as additional options the Mets could lean on. Pintaro, who was called up to take Williams' spot on the active roster, owns a 4.40 ERA in 14 1/3 innings across three separate stints with the Mets this season, according to Amazin' Avenue.
Senga's Bullpen Experiment Gains Urgency
The most intriguing name in the mix is Kodai Senga, the 33-year-old right-hander who made the All-Star team as a rookie starter in 2023 but has since battled shoulder, lat and hamstring injuries along with mechanical issues, MLB.com reported. When healthy enough to start this season, Senga produced a 9.66 ERA across eight games, a number that pushed the Mets to try him in a completely different role.
The team has been using Senga as a late-game leverage reliever in what MLB.com described as an open experiment, partly aimed at determining whether he can serve as a legitimate bullpen piece in 2027, the final year of his contract. Early results have been encouraging: in two outings since fully converting to relief work, Senga has allowed just one baserunner while touching 99 mph on his fastball, relying primarily on his four-seamer and forkball in short bursts.
"He's done a really nice job in his couple of bullpen outings," Green said, according to MLB.com. "Excited to see him continue to get tested in that way."
Despite that early success, Green stopped short of naming Senga or anyone else the primary closer. "If guys latch onto roles and show dominance in a particular capacity, you want to give them some level of certainty," Green said. "Guys thrive when they know what their expectations are. We're not there right now. Guys also thrive when they feel like they earned something and are not just given something."
With the Mets highly unlikely to reinsert themselves into the National League playoff race, as MLB.com noted, the fight over ninth-inning duties carries more organizational intrigue than postseason stakes. Amazin' Avenue suggested that if the Mets keep scoring runs at the pace they have shown on this road trip, the identity of the closer may matter less in the short term than simply finding arms capable of holding leads.
For now, the Mets will mix and match between Duarte, Nunez, Yan, Pintaro and Senga while monitoring Williams' shoulder. Green's comments indicate the club wants to see performance dictate roles rather than hand anyone the closer job outright, leaving New York's bullpen picture unsettled as the season winds down.
