Edwin Diaz's contract shows the NY Mets were never serious about keeping him

Edwin Diaz will not be a New York Met in 2026 and beyond. The Los Angeles Dodgers have signed the All-Star closing pitcher to a three-year contract worth $69 million. Mets fans should not be happy about this, as even though it sets a record for the highest average annual value for a reliever at $23 million, the Mets knew that was his price tag, and still could have outbid the Dodgers or offered a similar contract. All it shows is that the Mets were truly never that serious about re-signing him this offseason.

Diaz’s 2025 was one of the best seasons of his career, as he pitched to the tune of a 1.63 ERA, 2.28 FIP, and 0.87 WHIP over 66.1 innings of work, the most he has tossed in a single season since his 2018 breakout campaign. The right-hander struck out nearly 40% of opponents with a 38% K%, and only walked 8.1% of batters. Diaz also excelled at limiting hard contact, with an 88.5 MPH exit velocity and 4.7% barrel rate.

Diaz has been one of the best relief pitchers in the game since the Mets acquired him in the 2018-2019 offseason. He has the second-best K% (40.5%), the third-best K%-BB% (31.6%), and is one of only 18 pitchers who have a sub-3.00 ERA and 200+ innings pitched out of the bullpen since the start of the 2019 season. It’s not as if Diaz’s price tag totally blindsided the Mets.

Edwin Diaz's new contract shows the Mets weren't taking this as seriously as we would have hoped they would.

With that being said, the overall AAV of Diaz’s new contract, at $23 million, is not far off from what the Mets were already willing to pay him. They already paid him $21.5 million each season from 2023 through 2025, and if he had accepted his player option for 2026, he would have received $18.5 million. The Mets would have only had to give him a $2-3 million raise from his yearly salary from 2023 through 2025 to keep him in Queens.

Diaz’s previous contract with the Mets was for five years at $102 million, which he signed during the 2022-2023 offseason, making him the first reliever to sign a $100+ million deal. With that already in mind, the Mets already knew they were going to have to fork over a sizable contract, at least in terms of total value, to re-sign Diaz.

Plus, we knew the Mets were willing to sign relievers to larger contracts this offseason. They gave Devin Williams a three-year contract worth $51 million guaranteed (with $15 million in deferrals). That is an AAV of $17 million per season, and Diaz will now be making only $6 million more per year than Williams.

The Mets may have said they were interested in keeping Diaz (even after signing Williams), but actions speak louder than words. They knew Diaz was going to cost a decent amount, but weren’t willing to give him even a small pay raise (in terms of AAV) in free agency, even though he’s been a top-tier closing pitcher the last seven seasons and a key part of the Mets for many years now. All of that makes it feel like the Mets never were truly serious about re-signing him this offseason.