Mariners' Devin Williams daydream got rudely interrupted by a harsh reality

The Seattle Mariners signing Devin Williams as a free agent felt like a realistic possibility at the beginning of the offseason. But only for, like, a minute before buzz began to build that the two-time All-Star closer was going to strike it rich.

And now he has. Williams agreed to join the New York Mets on Monday via a three-year, $51 million contract, which was first reported on by Will Sammon of The Athletic and Jeff Passan of ESPN. It's more than half what the Mariners committed to Josh Naylor as their everyday first baseman, which feels like confirmation that signing Williams was always a daydream.

Mariners' Devin Williams daydream gets woken up by a harsh reality

Mind you, this is not to imply that this daydream was never worth having. The Mariners do want to flesh out their bullpen depth this winter, after all, and Williams initially seemed positioned to have to settle for a one-year deal.

Adam Jude of The Seattle Times posited that the Mariners might even sign the 31-year-old to a one-year, $10 million pact as part of their perfect offseason script. It was a polarizing suggestion, given that he was coming off a career-worst season and that he would have had to be OK with merely setting up for Andrés Muñoz. Yet it was also an intriguing possibility.

Williams did have a 4.79 ERA for the New York Yankees this season, but he wasn't really that bad. His strikeout-to-walk ratio was actually above his career norm, and his overall 37.7 percent whiff rate was in the 99th percentile.

However, everyone else clearly noticed this, too. Williams' market was purported to have roughly a dozen teams in it in mid-November, which all but nixed the possibility of him accepting a one-year deal. Given that they're reportedly trying to patch up their bullpen on the cheap, it's no wonder that the Mariners were never firmly linked to Williams before he signed with the Mets.

The question now is who the Mariners can get to support Muñoz, Matt Brash, Gabe Speier and Eduard Bazardo in the bullpen. Williams, Ryan Helsley, Raisel Iglesias and Phil Maton are already off the board, and their contracts are likely to push such notables as Edwin Díaz, Robert Suarez and Pete Fairbanks way out of the Mariners' price range.

Unless you're a big fan of Seranthony Domínguez, Luke Weaver or Brad Keller, the list of suitable bullpen options otherwise isn't very inspiring. You therefore have to wonder if Jerry Dipoto will stick to his usual M.O. with relievers, which consists of digging up cheap, yet promising arms and letting the pitching lab do its thing.

To this end, Mariners fans are better served getting to know Alex Hoppe than they are wasting any more time daydreaming about the top relievers left on the market.