Mets React To Edwin Díaz’s Injury News
On Wednesday night, a feeling of triumph quickly turned into a somber mood for Team Puerto Rico after New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz sustained a season-ending knee injury while celebrating their victory over Team Dominican Republic.
While this is a devastating loss for Team Puerto Rico, it is also a crushing blow to the Mets who are entering 2023 as legit World Series contenders. They will now begin the season knowing one of their biggest weapons is already done for the year.
Díaz going down in the fashion he did sent shockwaves throughout the baseball world, and several members of the Mets provided their reactions to this disappointing news as the story began to hit home.
Díaz is an integral part of this Mets team, which is indicated through the somber tone of the various reactions. It will be nearly impossible to replace the reliability and production that he brought to the bullpen. In addition to his high achievement on the field, Díaz appears to be a great teammate and clubhouse presence. Based on an article by Katie Woo, Tim Britton, and Will Sammon of The Athletic, it is evident that the reactions to this news share the sentiment of sadness for Díaz’s situation.
In fact, Adam Ottavino, who is a member of the bullpen that recently lost Sam Coonrod and Bryce Montes de Oca to injuries, expressed sympathy for Díaz as he navigates through his new predicament: “I know what it meant to him to be in that situation for Puerto Rico,” Ottavino said. “I know what type of kid he is and how hard he works. I know how much he cares and what he means to Puerto Rico and to the Mets. For everybody, it’s just sad. I really don’t have any other emotion beside that. I’m just hoping for the best for him.”
It is likely that Ottavino will assume the role of closer in Díaz’s absence. While Ottavino has been excellent with the Mets thus far, losing Díaz will greatly hurt the bullpen as the relievers will see a change in their roles. Ottavino has some closer experience with 33 career saves, so it will be interesting to see how he adjusts to his potential new role this season.
Pete Alonso added a similar perspective of frustration to this situation. “He’s worked really hard to get to where he’s at,” Alonso said. “He’s not only worked incredibly hard and reinvented himself but he was just an absolute force last year. To get where he was at is incredible. He’s such a hard worker, he’s a great teammate. I feel frustrated for him and we’re going to miss him for sure.”
Alonso makes a great point here about Díaz’s work ethic. Initially in his Mets career, Díaz had a disappointing 2019 season, in which he pitched to a 5.59 ERA with 7 blown saves out of 33 save opportunities. However, he has since made great strides and put up excellent numbers in the last three seasons, culminating in a stellar 2022 season. This makes the injury news even more devastating as Díaz has clearly worked very hard to get to this point in his career.
The newly acquired Justin Verlander, who has been around MLB for a long time, is not immune to unfortunate circumstances plaguing a team. According to Tim Healey of Newsday, Verlander provided commentary on the impact of this news on the high optimism that has been present during camp. “I can’t think of any team that’s ever gone through an entire season and not had some sort of major blow,” Verlander said. “It’s just tough to have happen at this point in the year. The optimism is so high and everybody is ready to go, then that happens. It’s tough.”
Verlander recently signed with the Mets in the offseason and is looking to add more World Series rings to his resume to finish off his excellent career. This injury will certainly make this objective more difficult, and he expresses that by indicating that the sense of optimism has lessened since the news came out. It is important that veterans like Verlander keep the morale of the team in the right place to succeed this season.
Next, Brandon Nimmo acknowledges the irreplaceability of Díaz as the team’s closer in a tweet from the aforementioned Tim Healey.“I don’t think you can ever fully replace who Edwin Díaz is and the player he is,” Nimmo said. “He was the best closer in baseball last year. There’s no doubt about that. But we’re very fortunate that we have guys in this staff that are very good at their jobs.”
While Nimmo realizes that it will be difficult to replace Díaz’s production, he also understands that the Mets need to move forward and think of a reality without their star closer. The Mets still have a strong bullpen with the additions of David Robertson and Brooks Raley to go along with the other pieces they already have. They also still have the opportunity to add arms to their bullpen prior to the start of the season. In fact, Mike Puma of the New York Post reported that the Mets were due to attend a Zack Britton showcase on Thursday.
Credit: Dale Zanine – USA TODAY
Mets skipper Buck Showalter focused on Díaz on a personal level in his reaction. According to Tim Healey, Buck stated: “It’s sad for him personally. That’s the way I looked at it. Regardless of how it affects anything else. Him and his family. It could’ve happened 20 times last year in some of the celebrations we had.”
Buck’s commentary is significant in the wake of the controversy surrounding whether MLB teams should send their players to the World Baseball Classic. Some argue that teams should hold their players back as the risk for injury outweighs the significance of representing one’s homeland on the grand stage. Based on his words, it is clear that Showalter does not regret allowing Díaz to participate.
On that same note, Francisco Lindor, who was also in the thick of that celebration for Puerto Rico on Wednesday night, defended players representing their country at the WBC. “I understand how Mets fans are hurting,” Lindor told ESPN’s Marly Rivera. “But while for so many people playing the regular season is what counts, playing in the WBC means just as much to all of us. It is the dream of every Puerto Rican ballplayer to wear Puerto Rico’s colors and to represent our country. And not only Puerto Ricans, but every player in the WBC considers being here the ultimate honor.”
Edwin Diaz is a great human being and a fierce competitor. All of us at the Mets are shaken but determined to sustain our quest for a great season. We wish Edwin a speedy recovery.
— Steven Cohen (@StevenACohen2) March 16, 2023
Finally, Mets owner Steve Cohen had this to say about Thursday’s crushing news. “Edwin Díaz is a great human being and a fierce competitor,” Cohen said in a Tweet. “All of us at the Mets are shaken but determined to sustain our quest for a great season. We wish Edwin a speedy recovery.”
Cohen is not in an ideal situation as he just signed Díaz to a five-year, $102 million deal this past offseason. Although he is likely disappointed that he will not see his investment pay off this season, he understands that the Mets are still a good team that have every chance of success. He shares a similar viewpoint to Verlander and Nimmo in that the Mets will not let this news impact their mentality as they set out to win a World Series in 2023.
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