In baseball, confidence sometimes counts more than talent.
Just ask Edwin Diaz, the highest-paid closer in the major leagues. Diaz, 30, gave up five home runs in his first 18 innings pitched this season.
The most recent was a 428-foot moon shot to center field in Miami’s loanDepot Park that tied a game Diaz entered with a four-run lead.
“I can’t lie,” Diaz said after the game May 18. “I feel my confidence is down right now.”
After blowing saves in three straight games, the Mets reluctantly demoted their hard-throwing closer.
“Our job is to get him back on track,” rookie manager Carlos Mendoza told writers after the game, which the Mets lost, 10-9, in 10 innings to the struggling Marlins.
“He’ll do whatever it takes to help this team win a baseball game, whether that’s pitching in the seventh, the eighth, the ninth, whenever that is, losing or winning.”
In both 2021 and 2022, Diaz saved 32 games. But he missed all of 2023 after injuring his knee (torn patellar tendon) while celebrating a World Baseball Classic win for Team Puerto Rico.
Ironically, that happened on the same Miami mound, as WBC games were played in big-league parks.
The highest-paid pitcher on the highest-paid team, Diaz signed a five-year, $102 million deal on Nov. 9, 2022. The biggest pact ever lavished on a closer, it contains an opt-out clause after 2025 but also a $20 million team option for 2028.
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As the Memorial Day marker looms, neither the Mets nor their erstwhile bullpen ace have much to write home about.
Entering play Tuesday, New York stood a disappointing fourth in the five-team National League East with a 21-26 record, 12½ games behind the streaking Philadelphia Phillies, whose .708 winning percentage (34-14) was baseball’s best.
“He’s too good a pitcher for him to continue to struggle for a long time,” Mendoza told Jon Heyman of The New York Post. “We want to find some softer spots to get him going. He will get through it.”
In short, Diaz has lost his job to closer-by-committee – at least for the moment.
“I am making my pitches and throwing strikes,” said the two-time All-Star, “and I’m trying to help my team win.” Mendoza said the pitcher was pressing, putting pressure on himself.
His formerly unhittable slider was hit over the fence not only by Bell but by Bryson Stott, whose solo homer for Philadelphia against Diaz in the ninth knotted a game the Mets later lost.
The struggles of Diaz, potential free agent Pete Alonso, and former batting champion Jeff McNeil don’t sit well with Mets owner Steve Cohen, whose $305.6 million payroll tops the majors, according to USA TODAY.
If the team continues to struggle, he could repeat last year’s trade deadline sales, moving veterans for prospects at the end of July.
In 2023, he sent veteran pitchers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer packing.
Whether Diaz would depart is debatable but losing teams seldom create enough save opportunities. Besides, he’s a folk hero in Flushing whose fan-rousing entrance is invariably greeted by Timmy Trumpet playing Narco.
Getting their last-inning ace back has become top priority for the Mets as they sink in the standings. They don’t want a repeat of last year, when they finished 29 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves, their top rival.
