Edwin Diaz’s departure to the Los Angeles Dodgers signals the Mets are likely punting next season.
Changes were coming after an underachieving season that saw the Mets miss the playoffs despite a $340 million payroll.
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns yearned to break up the core since the day he was hired. He wanted to build a team on his philosophy of pitching and defense, as he did with the Milwaukee Brewers. He wanted to win with his own players.
Now, he will get his opportunity. He would have done it last offseason if the Mets had not had that improbable run from June that ended with the NL Championship Series loss.
Edwin Diaz’s departure to the back-to-back defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers signals this team is likely punting next season. How else can anyone explain Brandon Nimmo being traded to the Rangers and Diaz leaving without a fight from the Mets? Oh, and you can forget Pete Alonso coming back now. He will likely move on as a free agent, whether or not he gets the offer he thinks he is getting.
David Stearns (photo Reddit)
Stearns arrived with the idea of building this team to be more athletic and younger. He wanted to build through the draft. He came with the mandate to improve the farm system.
Mets owner Steve Cohen is giving him full autonomy to do so now after not being involved in stopping Diaz from going to the hated Dodgers. Maybe he learned that overpaying guys doesn’t pay off after the Amazin’s didn’t make the playoffs with Juan Soto, who signed the richest contract in baseball last year with a 15-year, $765 million deal.
If Francisco Lindor and Soto did not have big contracts, they would be traded, too.
Good luck to them as they play through a rebuilding team. At least they will be paid well for being professionals, so it’s hard to feel sorry for them.
We shouldn’t be surprised if Alonso leaves. If he receives a lucrative offer from either the Boston Red Sox or Baltimore Orioles, he will likely go at the first opportunity. He wasn’t happy about being unappreciated by Stearns all season. He didn’t like that the Mets’ baseball boss never showed any genuine desire to bring him back as a free agent last season. If not for Cohen being involved, the Mets star would have played elsewhere last season.
It’s hard to believe Alonso will come back now after Diaz’s departure, even if he does not get an offer he thinks he’s going to get. He knows the Mets likely have no shot at winning the division or a championship. Not even Cohen getting involved can change that.
It’s surprising that Cohen just let Diaz walk. He knows what he has in his closer, who knows how to close in New York, not to mention he is the best closer the franchise has ever had. An exceptional closer that should not have been allowed to leave without a fight.
Here’s what’s damning: Diaz did not even get a fifth year from the Dodgers. He received a three-year, $69 million deal from them and accepted it.
Let’s translate what the closer did here. Like Alonso, he did not feel Stearns appreciated him much during his time here, as he did not tell the media how much he was needed or how great he had been with the Mets. When you hear reports that the Mets would hold the line in paying players, it’s a euphemism for the fact that anyone can be replaceable. Diaz clearly had to be bothered by that, so he sent a message to the Mets that he would go away at the first opportunity he could get.
That is the same thing that will happen to Alonso, too.
This validates my theory about something not clicking in the clubhouse this year. The guys clearly didn’t play for each other and the team. It probably stems from their unhappiness about Stearns treating them as disposable rather than making them feel integral to the team’s success.
Stearns comes from the idea that he relies on analytics to build a roster. He looks at trends and numbers. He doesn’t really put a premium on the heartbeat of the clubhouse. It’s a mistake. There’s something to be said about a player knowing what to do at the plate or on the mound. There’s something to be said about playing in New York. It’s something he doesn’t get.
His approach likely comes from his not playing baseball, and it’s dangerous. It would make players not really want to play for the team.
It’s great that Stearns is not a sentimentalist. You can’t build your team that way, but you also have not to let guys leave in their prime, too. Alonso, Nimmo, and Diaz had plenty to offer, and those guys are going to be hard to replace.
For those who expect the Mets to spend this offseason, please don’t count on it. Stearns doesn’t sound like a guy who wants to throw money around. He is basically Sandy Alderson. For those who cite Soto, it was Cohen who did that. If the Mets baseball boss had his way, the outfielder wouldn’t even be here.
I wouldn’t anticipate any trades, such as acquiring Joe Ryan for Jonah Tong or Brandon Sproat, either.
The Mets players made Stearns’ point to move on with the core. Now, he gets to do what he wanted from the day he arrived here.
His body of work gets judged right now. There are no more scapegoats left. The departures show this is his team once and for all.
