It's been a couple of weeks since Edwin Diaz left, dropping some choice comments on his way out the door, and New York Mets fans have finally had time to process everything now that the dust has settled on his departure.
The final line he'll leave behind in Queens includes 144 saves, a 2.93 ERA, 14.7 K/9, and a 1.036 WHIP all over 328.1 innings of work. The Mets will surely miss that kind of dominance in the ninth.
With not much else left to say, it's time to look back on the trade that landed Diaz here from Seattle and see if the Mets truly got their money's worth. As a refresher, Diaz came alongside Robinson Cano in exchange for Jay Bruce, Gerson Bautista, Justin Dunn, Jarred Kelenic, and Anthony Swarzak. The crown jewels for Seattle were Kelenic and Dunn, who at the time of the deal became their No. 2 and No. 3 prospects, respectively.
How did the Mets-Mariners trade for Edwin Diaz work out for everyone involved?
Robinson Cano
Cano's Mets tenure didn't go quite as the club had hoped. His 2019 season left something to be desired, slashing .256/.307/.428, and while he bounced back in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign with a .316/.352/.544 mark, he would go on to miss the entire 2021 season due to a PED suspension. 2022 would be his final year in the bigs, posting a putrid .150/.183/.190 line while bouncing between the Mets, the San Diego Padres, and the Atlanta Braves.
Cano hasn't exactly hung up his spikes, however. He's been spending his summers dominating in the Mexican League for the Diablos Rojos del Mexico the past couple of years, while also spending his winters returning to his home country of the Dominican Republic to play in LIDOM, the premier league over there. Can't say the guy doesn't love ball, right?
Jay Bruce
Bruce wasn't long for Seattle, getting traded the following June to the Philadelphia Phillies. His skills at that point had begun to deteriorate to the point where all he had left was the occasional long ball. He'd signed with the New York Yankees in February of 2021, but retired on April 18, 2021. Since then, in addition to outside business ventures, he has served as a minor league special advisor to the Houston Astros since 2024.
Jarred Kelenic
Once thought of as a can't-miss prospect, Kelenic has not become the future star Mets fans thought they were giving up for Diaz. Instead, after three disappointing seasons in Seattle, he'd be traded to the Atlanta Braves in a very minor deal. Things haven't gone any better for him with the Braves, and he currently finds himself a free agent owning a career .211/.282/.376 line.
Justin Dunn
Dunn, like Kelenic, never found his footing at the big league level. He debuted in 2019, but only threw 6.2 innings. In 2020, he'd make 10 starts for the Mariners, recording a 4.34 ERA while walking an astronomical 6.11 batters per nine. Those control issues would continue to be a bugaboo, with him posting BB/9 rates of 5.19 and 4.94 in 2021 and 2022, respectively. He last pitched in the majors in 2022 and was cut loose from the Kansas City Royals minor league system this past August.
Gerson Bautista
Bautista saw his only big league action with the Mets prior to the trade, tossing 4.1 innings to the horrible tune of a 12.46 ERA in 2018. That would be it for his big league career. He never made a big league appearance for Seattle, and then would move on to pitch in the minors for the San Francisco Giants in 2021. After that, he'd bounce around the Mexican league in the summers and pitched in LIDOM in the winters, but hasn't pitched professionally anywhere since 2024, when he put up a 7.39 ERA for the Conspiradores de Queretaro in Mexico.
Anthony Swarzak
Swarzak wasn't long for Seattle, either, logging just 13.2 innings in the Pacific Northwest before being traded in May of 2019 to the Braves. He'd finish the year with a 4.56 ERA between both stops. Swarzak didn't pitch in 2020, and when he returned in 2021, he fared even worse, posting a 9.49 ERA between stints with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Kansas City Royals. That would be the end of his major league career, and puts a bow on the trade, proving the Mets didn't lose anything of value for six superb seasons from Edwin Diaz.
