What's next for Tigers on the relief market after Mets sign Devin Williams?

The second the New York Mets handed Devin Williams three years and $51 million, every bullpen plan across baseball went sideways — including the Detroit Tigers'.

That deal didn’t just remove one elite closer from the market. It set the tone. And then when the Baltimore Orioles scooped up Ryan Helsley for two years and $28 million, the message got even louder: "If you want a late-inning arm, you're paying up. Right now."

So where does that leave the Detroit Tigers? Right on the clock.

Devin Williams signing with Mets gave the relief market a price tag, putting pressure on Tigers to act now

The deals for Williams and Helsley drew lines in the sand. Now every non-Edwin Diaz closer is walking into negotiations with a clear comp. Detroit can’t sit back and play the wait-and-see game anymore. If this becomes a full-on run on relievers (and it already smells like one), the Tigers are either going to strike early or overpay late. And fans know which scenario hurts more.

Yes, Diaz is the biggest name left. Yes, he’s going to get paid like a nuclear deterrent. And no, he probably isn’t a realistic target for Detroit. But here’s the problem: his deal will still affect Detroit.

Once Díaz signs — especially if it’s back with the Mets after the Williams deal — everything beneath him gets more expensive by association. The market shifts upward, and suddenly the Tigers are bidding in a neighborhood that cost a lot less just a few days ago. So even if Detroit isn’t buying the biggest mansion on the block, the property taxes just went up everywhere.

The real battleground is tier 2 and tier 3 of the relief market, where Detroit’s actual offseason gets decided. After Díaz, the next wave of relievers includes names like Robert Suárez, Pete Fairbanks, Emilio Pagán, Kyle Finnegan and Tyler Rogers. That’s the tier that normally carries teams through contention, and that’s exactly the tier about to start vanishing off the board.

Once these arms start signing, the only things left are bounce-back bets, injury rehabs and reclamation projects. That's not how you protect leads in September, much less October.

The Orioles just torched the bullpen market, and the Mets followed with gasoline. Now, the Tigers are standing at the edge of a very fast-moving conveyor belt. If they wait, prices go up, options disappear, and risk multiplies. If they act, they control the damage, secure a late-inning weapon, and stabilize a roster that's tantalizingly close to real contention.

This is the window where playoff teams separate themselves from “almost” teams. And for the Tigers, this is a rare offseason where the front office can loudly tell the league that they are buying in.

The Williams signing in New York wasn’t just noise. It was the starter’s gun. And now, the Tigers have to sprint — or get lapped.