With their Edwin Diaz trade looking worse and worse by the day, the Mets seemingly have not learned their lesson from Francisco Rodriguez and the eerie parallels concerning the two careers.
The Rodriguez and Diaz problems are very similar. Two young (24 for Diaz, 25 for Rodriguez) closers from the AL West went to the Mets. Both closers were chasing the single season saves record, which Rodriguez managed to get and hold with 62 saves. Both closers, who had shown flashes of dominance before, were viewed to have finally put it together during the season.
After their stellar 20_8 seasons (2008 for Rodriguez, 2018 for Diaz), they went to the Mets. The Mets signed Rodriguez in free agency and traded for Diaz (also, that Robinson Canó guy) at the same time. High expectations were placed on the newly-New York closers. To put it politely, the expectations were not met.
Although Rodriguez managed to make the All-Star Game in 2009, his total performance for the year was not pretty. The 3.71 ERA looks satisfactory on the surface, but the RA/9 of 4.50 with a slightly better defense in a pitchers park resulted in his bWAR being a measly 0.1. He also walked Mariano Rivera with the bases. Big oof there.
So far in 2019, Diaz has posted an ERA around 5, with his most notable meltdown being blowing a 3-1 lead against the Phillies. He gave up 5 runs in one third of an inning, losing the game. Editor's Note: This wonderful game was also pretty bad. His deal has looked worse by the day, but it should have been clear from the beginning that these deals do not work out.
May your pennants last forever.
-Prentiss
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