Lowering Their Sugar Intake, Mets Search for a New Closer

I could have sworn that the newspapers said that the Mets season was over, but lo and behold, they continue to play baseball. Imagine that. I even got multiple messages throughout the weekend, asking if the season was over. But I tuned into PIX 11 and there was Mets baseball, live and in high definition. The only problem is, what I saw was not great. On Saturday, Edwin Diaz took the mound against the anemic Marlins with a 4 run lead. Not even a save situation. He was unable to get more than one out, allowing 4 runs on 4 hits. That was his third consecutive appearance in which he lost the lead. After some tears in the locker room, he was unceremoniously demoted from the closer role. 

 

So what exactly happened to the pitcher that was amicably nicknamed Sugar? Some say he was brought back too soon after missing all over 2023 with a knee injury. Some say he’s worn out his shelf life. Some even blame Timmy Trumpet, who appeared at Citi Field during the 2022 postseason push to play Edwin’s walkup music live and then cosmically brought nothing but disaster since (It also doesn’t help that after every Mets loss, some dude is standing outside of the stadium playing the song to further pour salt in our wounds). But I’m here to tell you that this situation is not special. This is not the LOLMets situation you think it is. 

 

Closers break all the time, even the greatest ones.

 

Being an MLB closer has historically been a sensitive position. You’re not allowed to steady yourself after a shaky start. You’re not allowed to fail. You need to do this specific thing perfectly every single time you are needed. The slightest thing like the blowing of the wind or the tightness of pants could torpedo the trajectory of your entire season. The greatest hitters of all time failed in at least 66% of their at-bats. Let that sink in. Closers are not given this margin of error and their jobs are almost always on a short leash. Just look at Craig Kimbrel, the 6th most successful closer of all-time. He has had massive stretches of ineptitude for the last 7 seasons. Yet, all he has to do is prove himself once and the closing gig is his to lose again. He’s still making $12 million a year to be a closer after losing championships.

 

History dictates that Edwin Diaz will be back. All he needs to do is stay humble, work whatever slight infraction exists in his mechanics and wait for his turn again. He’s not broken, he’s not cursed, he simply needs to get his groove back. In the meantime, the Mets are not at a disadvantage. They need to actually put themselves into save situations first, but we aren’t going to talk about that. When those situations do arise (and they will, trust me), they have a good short list of options. 

 

Reed Garrett, RHP, 5-0, 25 IP, 41 K, 0.72 ERA, 1.12 WHIP

This is the first obvious choice. Clear as day. You’d be stupid not to. After slumming it in the minors for 5 years, he was then passed around major league clubs, never really given a chance until this year. He is the breakout star of this team and his stuff is electric. I know we shouldn’t trust such a small sample size, but if he’s good right now, he’s good right now. That’s literally all that matters in baseball. Carlos Mendoza needs to strike while the iron is hot and put him to the test. 

 

Jorge López, RHP, 1-1, 24 IP, 17 K, 2.25 ERA, 1.16 WHIP

Jorge has served very well as the team’s band-aid. He’s used to being in crunch situations and getting out of the inning to stop the bleeding. He is also no stranger to closing, as he served that role in Baltimore and Minnesota during his 2022 All-Star campaign. His stats outside of this year and 2022? Abysmal. But like I said before, he’s good right now. That means that he can be a ninth inning guy [checks watch] right now. 

 

Jake Diekman, LHP, 1-1, 16.1 IP, 23 K, 3.86 ERA, 1.34 WHIP

Okay, this is not a very sexy option. But the beauty of closing by committee is that you can place pitchers situationally. He’s the most reliable lefty arm in the pen and he’s also a 13 year veteran. His tendencies are a little more predictable and when his pitches are on point, his movement is unhittable. The real ones remember how he was a total cheat code in MLB The Show ‘18 and he’s had flashes of that this year. If the Mets are facing a spell of lefties or the bottom of the order, he could easily be given the ball and trusted with a short leash.

 

They also have Sean Reid-Foley, Tylor Megill and Josh Walker with sub-3.00 ERAs but with less innings under their belt. The demotion of Edwin Diaz isn’t actually a problem, it’s just a way to highlight how good this bullpen is right now. If Jose Alvarado injures his toe playing Dance Dance Revolution, the Phillies have one, maybe two backup options. If Raisel Iglesias slips into the 4th dimension, the Braves only have the unfortunately-named Pierce Johnson to turn to. Some of the best teams in the league have no 9th inning options when disaster strikes. But the Mets seemingly have too many options. All they need to do is, you know, figure a whole bunch of other things out. 

 

After going 2-8 on their road trip, the 21-28 Mets return home on Friday to face 3 teams from the NL West, the Giants, Dodgers and Diamondbacks. Although the task seems daunting, all three teams have shown major signs of weakness recently. The Giants are 3-7 on the road in the month of May. The Dodgers can’t get any consistency in their bullpen after losing their closer. And the Diamondbacks have been the definition of “Mid”, almost getting swept by the visiting Tigers last weekend. These projected unstoppable forces are more stoppable than ever. They can easily sneak in a win here and there to keep the season going and the butts in the seats.