Mets enter season with no set closer

MIAMI — One of the biggest questions hovering over the Mets will remain as such at the outset of a season that won’t include Edwin Diaz.

The Mets are not naming a closer in his injury-induced absence, with manager Buck Showalter and general manager Billy Eppler saying they prefer to wait and see what happens with the remaining late-inning options.

On Wednesday evening, less than 24 hours before the Mets face the Marlins on Opening Day, Showalter noted that the closer role “might evolve” over the course of the coming months.

Among his ninth-inning options: David Robertson, who has by far the most closing experience of the handful of Mets relievers under consideration, including replacing Mariano Rivera upon his retirement; and Adam Ottavino, who was Diaz’s top setup man last year (and had better numbers with the Mets than Robertson had with the Cubs and Phillies).

“Kind of like how your No. 1 starter is the guy pitching that night,” Showalter said during the Mets’ Opening Day eve workout. “Your closer is hopefully the guy who gets the opportunity and is able to do the job. It’s going to be hard."

Diaz emerged last year as the best closer in baseball, became a free agent, re-signed with the Mets on a five-year, $102 million deal — the largest ever for a reliever — and suffered a full-thickness tear of the patellar tendon in his right knee while away at the World Baseball Classic this month. He had surgery that is expected to keep him out for the duration of the season.

Without him, is it important for the rest of the unit to get off the strong start?  

“You can make that case,” Showalter said. “That’s a good point. One I’m not going to perpetuate.”

Robertson added: “I think so. It’d be great to . . . It would definitely be a breather for the starters and the position players knowing that they put up enough runs or held the lead long enough if we can do our job at the back end and solidify those wins."

And Ottavino: “You always want to get off to a good start. It breeds confidence and allows things to fall into place early. Things are always going to change, you’re always going to hit patches, but you’d rather it not be right out of the gate. If it is, it is, but ideally you want to get off to a nice, clean liftoff.”

The Mets’ group of high-leverage relievers also includes lefthander Brooks Raley (nine career saves, including six with the Rays last year) and righthander Drew Smith (zero career saves).

Showalter added that the Mets have “some guys that we think might pop” and earn late-and-close opportunities. John Curtiss, for example, dabbled in that role in 2020-21 and, recovered from Tommy John surgery, won a spot in the Mets’ bullpen during camp. And Showalter talks up Tommy Hunter frequently.

Ottavino said he has heard “literally zero” from Showalter about how the Mets will approach the late innings when they are holding a small lead.

“I love the versatility of our bullpen and the prospect of being able to pass the load around,” Showalter said.

Eppler said: “At the start of spring training, we talked about having five high-leverage relievers. Right now we’re at four. We have our eyes on a couple that we think could emerge in that role, but we’ll see where bear out and see where it ends.”

As Ottavino put it, “The ninth inning is rented.” With Diaz, the Mets were the exception in having a homeowner — known, lock-down closer. Now they need a subletter. They are like a lot of other clubs: facing relative uncertainty in a game’s biggest spots.

In that sense, the Mets’ bullpen is representative of so much in baseball: A lot of stuff is going to happen the next six months and it is nearly impossible to know at this point what it’s going to be.

“[The bullpen] has the ability to get the job done,” Ottavino said. “I’ve been part of so many bullpens that people want to talk about them before the season starts or whatever, but it’s just so hard to know anything until it does start. I think we have enough arms. We have enough talent to do the job and do our thing.

“I don’t have any sense of how it will actually shake out, whether it exceeds every expectation or falls short. There’s just so many games still to be played. There’s so much to fall into place. There’s so many things that are going to change.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.