Devin Williams' social media activity screams how much he never wanted to be a Yankee

Something about Devin Williams' short trip from the Bronx to Queens convinced him that posting on social media was cool again. Shortly after signing a three-year, $51 million deal that will transfer his talents from the New York Yankees to the New York Mets, Williams updated his socials (Instagram and X) to reflect his new loyalties.

At first glance, this seems like a news-less development — pro athletes do this kind of thing all the time when they get traded or sign with a new club. What makes Williams' social media makeover notable, though, is that he was utterly inactive on socials while donning pinstripes.

Devin Williams never made effort on social media as a Yankee, but he's doing so already as a Met

In recent days, fans on X pointed out that Williams, while a Yankee, never even took the care to update his bio to reflect that he'd ever been traded from the Milwaukee Brewers. Moreover, Williams made a single Yankees-themed Instagram post back on March 30 (essentially introducing himself to the fan base), and never posted again.

Again, Williams going "dark" on socials in 2025 wasn't a newsworthy narrative in and of itself (some people just want to lock in) until his Mets move mysteriously inspired D-Will to boldly step out into the social media spotlight donning blue and orange with a pride he never exhibited as a Yank.

That's not all. On December 3 (the official day of his signing with the Mets), Williams posted an Instagram story trolling Yankees fans for what he deemed to be fair-weather support over the past year. "For a bunch of people that didn't want me back on your team, y'all sure are mad in the DMS," Williams wrote, ending the message with a laughing emoji in an attempt to give a humorous mask to what's clearly an ugly and serious dilemma in his own psyche.

It's a dilemma, by the way, that has its roots in Williams' horrifying first few months as a Yankee, which injured both his own reputation in the Bronx (some might say beyond repair) and New York's bullpen plans.

Williams' Instagram story suggests that he won over many of his initial critics as his outings increased in quality later in the season, and that makes perfect sense. When you're starting from zero on a new team and you stink, fans don't like you. When you produce, they do. Basic math.

Where Williams' attempt to expose Yankees fans falls flat is that it operates under the false premise that he wasn't starting from zero with Yankees fans; and that he had some sort of foundational, mutual respect with the fan base that was betrayed by his rough few months. In fact, that respect was never established because Williams, for a long time, had never been anything but atrocious in a Yankees uniform.

This wasn't the case of a multiple-year Yankee with a track record of success hitting a rough patch, and fans turning on him. Williams didn't receive love and acclaim from the fan base until — what do you know! — he gave that fan base something to root for.

Williams' trolling feels like someone making an awful impression on a first date, making up for it later in the relationship, and then dumping their significant other and blaming them for the rough start on the way out the door.

Yankees fans didn't do anything distasteful in their handling of Williams in 2025. If they embraced him later on, he should be grateful for that, not bitter. Have fun, Mets fans.