Mets' Edwin Diaz won't pitch this season
Edwin Diaz #9 of the Mets looks on before a game against theCincinnati Reds at Citi Field on Friday, Sep. 15, 2023. Credit: Jim McIsaac
MIAMI — A season that never really began for Edwin Diaz officially is over.
Despite his desire to do so, he will not return to pitch in a game this season, Mets general manager Billy Eppler said Monday, making final a decision that manager Buck Showalter had hinted at for weeks. The organization also has ruled out a minor-league rehabilitation assignment, according to Eppler.
Diaz didn’t pitch at all this year after having surgery to repair the torn patellar tendon in his right knee in March.
“He’s been going step-by-step, marker-by-marker,” Eppler told Newsday. “We’re just going to run out of season.”
Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner cited the same hesitation that Showalter did recently: playing defense. Diaz has been throwing bullpen sessions regularly for weeks — and will continue to do so — but has not fielded his position.
“I’m not as concerned about the pitching. It’s more about fielding,” Hefner told MLB.com. “If we were in a different situation as a team, we would probably push to the point that he’d be pitching in games right now.”
Originally given a recovery timetable of six to eight months, Diaz said late last month that his rehab had been “perfect” and he was “feeling great,” seemingly putting the end of the regular season in play.
But because the Mets long have been out of playoff contention, significantly diminishing the purpose of Diaz getting on a mound in a game, they aren’t going to bother — an internal conversation that Showalter has said had been going on for weeks, if not months.
“I don’t think it’s imperative [that Diaz pitch],” Showalter said Monday. “You gotta be careful about doing something just because of curiosity.”
The long-term loss of Diaz was the first domino in what has proved to be a miserable season for the Mets. Fresh off signing a five-year, $102 million contract — the largest ever for a reliever — he got hurt playing for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic. Hopping on the field during a mild postgame celebration, Diaz crumpled to the ground in obvious pain. He had surgery the next day.
Diaz’s absence left a huge hole in an already shaky bullpen depth chart. With all of the best relievers already signed at that late stage of the offseason and few clubs willing to make significant trades at that time of year, the Mets never replaced him.
David Robertson, signed to be one of Diaz’s primary setup men, wound up receiving the bulk of the save opportunities and in July was traded to the Marlins. Adam Ottavino and Brooks Raley also pitched high-leverage innings, but the Mets were two arms short of the group of five they wanted for those situations.
Diaz said on Aug. 28 that his goal was to “come back this season and throw one or two games or whatever,” which would allow him to “finish the season on a positive note.”
In a version of events that had the Mets playing meaningful games around now, Diaz’s return could have been a big boost for morale and, practically speaking, for Showalter managing a bullpen that has missed its closer.
Instead, Diaz will focus on being ready for 2024.
“The main thing for me is how my knee is, good and healthy,” he said recently. “I feel healthy right now.”
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.
