Why Devin Williams is still worth 3-years $51 Million

In 2025 with the New York Yankees, reliever Devin Williams lost his closer role after posting a 4.79 ERA while dealing with immense backlash from the fanbase. This year in his first season with the Mets, he's posted a 6.35 ERA on the heals of giving up a game winning grand slam to the Miami Marlins. His performance on the surface has been shaky but his underlying stats and larger sample size show he's only had a couple rough outings that haven't cost the team significantly. He had a similar preformance where he gave up a grand slam to the Dodgers when down by mutliple runs before he came in.

Courtesy of Yahoo Sports

Williams has a 3.43 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) along with an impressive 13.24 K/9 which is amongst the best in the league. Along with this, he has a .400 BABIP which suggests he has been significantly unlucky due to batted ball luck. This is his first season for the Mets of his 3-year $51 million contract and has shown more promise than his surface numbers suggest. The valuation formula still says he's worth $12.83 million despite the rough surface numbers which is close to $2 million less than his AAV of $15 million. ($6 million is deferred)*