Mets’ splashy closer signing just priced the Padres out of a Robert Suarez reunion

The New York Mets didn’t just upgrade their bullpen when they handed a three-year, $51 million deal to Devin Williams. They also sent a clear message to the rest of the league — if you want elite relief pitching, you’re going to have to pay a premium for it. For the San Diego Padres, that might be the moment the dream of a Robert Suarez reunion quietly died.

Even before the Mets jumped in, it was hard to see a clean path for the Padres to bring Suarez back. They’re already walking a tightrope with payroll, trying to patch a thin rotation, plug holes in the lineup, and still maintain what was arguably the strength of the 2025 team: the bullpen. Williams landing $17 million per year doesn’t just reset the closer market, it essentially defines Suarez’s neighborhood.

Devin Williams to Mets could quietly end any hope of a Robert Suarez–Padres reunion

What makes the Mets’ bet on Williams even more interesting is that they’re paying for the underlying dominance, not the surface-level stat line. He slogged through the worst ERA of his career last season, posting a 4.79 mark over 67 outings in New York. But dig below that and you see why the Mets were comfortable shoving this much money across the table: a sharp 2.68 FIP, a .195 expected batting average against, and chase rates that still sit in the elite tier. On paper, he looked unlucky as much as anything.

If you’re Suarez’s camp, that Mets deal is a gift. You’re not starting the conversation at “what can you afford?” anymore. You’re starting it with, “My guy has been a top-end late-inning weapon on a contender. Why shouldn’t he live in that same financial zip code?” Even if Suarez doesn’t quite match Williams’ résumé, the structure of the deal matters. Top-tier leverage arms now have a fresh, shiny benchmark to point to.

For the Padres, that’s a problem. A reunion with Suarez already required some financial gymnastics. Now, with the Mets setting the high end of the market, every other contender that misses on the very top names is going to trickle down into Suarez’s lane — and drive the bidding even higher. That doesn’t just affect Suarez; it ripples into talks with other arms like Josh Hader, Edwin Diaz, Pete Fairbanks, or Emilio Pagán.

San Diego’s bullpen has been its security blanket, the one area you could reasonably call a strength. The Mets are trying to copy that blueprint, pairing Williams with a reported push to re-sign Edwin Díaz in free agency — even as they haggle over contract length — in a move that could make them a much more dangerous October obstacle, whether that’s in a Wild Card series or a late-season sprint.