Edwin Díaz was spectacular for the New York Mets this season, which might be the reason he winds up leaving.
The market for relief pitchers has taken off over the past few offseasons, with Díaz setting the tone when he signed his $102 million extension after the 2022 season. That extension was signed under former general manager Billy Eppler, who gave way to current president baseball operations David Stearns the next winter.
Since then, two more relievers have signed deals for four or more years and $72 million or more. Now that Díaz has opted out of the last two years of his Mets deal, those benchmarks seem like the floor for what the 32-year-old All-Star can expect.
Stearns, meanwhile, has been reluctant to commit long-term money to pitchers of all kinds since taking over, and one Mets insider believes that is likely to lead to Díaz’s eventual departure.
While answering fan questions on the r/Mets Reddit page on Monday, MLB.com beat reporter Anthony DiComo predicted that Díaz would not get another big-money deal from the Mets and installed the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers as the favorites to land him.
“I’ve been consistent from the start of the offseason in saying I’ll believe David Stearns will pony up huge money for a reliever when I see it,” wrote DiComo. “That’s not even me necessarily saying Stearns *won’t* re-sign Díaz, it’s just an acknowledgement that doing so would break from what’s appeared to be a career-long philosophy: Don’t invest too much money in relief pitchers, regardless of who they are.
“Tack on the fact that Stearns has already demonstrated a willingness to be unsentimental, and it becomes clear to be that re-signing Díaz is no sure thing. And if everything I wrote above is true, I’d have to consider the Dodgers the favorite to grab him, if for no other reason than that they are the Dodgers.”
The Dodgers, of course, gave out one of the aforementioned big-money reliever deals last winter when they signed Tanner Scott for four years, $72 million. And Scott was ineffective for the entire season (4.76 ERA), then underwent a procedure to remove a lower-body abscess that prevented him from taking part in the playoffs.
Because they’re the Dodgers (the only team seemingly willing to blow past the Mets in terms of luxury tax payroll), it would hardly be a surprise to see them institute a mulligan on the Scott deal and sign a more established closer like Díaz.
A return to the Mets might have become more unlikely Monday night with reports that the Mets and All-Star closer Devin Williams agreed on a three-year deal.
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