The Mets retained one of their big fish right on the start of free agency, inking Closer Edwin Diaz to a 5 year/102 million dollar contract. The contract will reportedly have an opt out after the 3rd year and a full no trade clause.
The Best Closer in Baseball gets the most money ever by a reliever. Yes, it’s a lot of money but to me the Mets needed to retain him to have their lockdown closer at the end of games.
The 28 year old was absolutely dominant in 2022, pitching to a 1.31 ERA with 118 strikeouts in 62 innings. He even had a 0.90 FIP which shows his season wasn’t a fluke. He didn’t allow a lot of hits, and his walk rate was lower then in his earlier Mets tenure.
Let’s forget about the 2019 year. With the juiced balls, Diaz allowed 15 homers in just 53 innings. That isn’t going to happen again. To me it’s save to say that Diaz will likely be one of the best closer in the game for years to come. And he is a Met!
Let’s enjoy this start of a very exciting offseason for Mets fans!
In other news the Mets have exercised Daniel Vogelbach 1.5m option and Chris Bassitt has Declined his 19m option, becoming a free agent.
Photo Credit: B/R Walk-Off