Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz will be heading to the World Baseball Classic to pitch for Team Puerto Rico next week. Once the tournament begins, if you see Diaz pitch in one of the pool games, you will not see him enter the next game.

Díaz was a guest on Foul Territory on Thursday and he mentioned what his workload will be like in the first few games of the WBC:

“I won’t pitch back-to-back days because it’s mid-March. If I pitch today, I have to have the next day off. With one day in between, that’s fine., Let’s see if we make it to the finals. If I have to pitch back-to-back in the finals, I think the Mets will let me go back-to-back because it is the end of March,” said Diaz.

Earlier in the day, Buster Olney from ESPN tweeted that the Mets were concerned about what Díaz’s workload would be during the tournament. Tim Healey from Newsday also tweeted that there was a conversation a few days ago with Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and Puerto Rico’s pitching coach:

Back in 2017, Diaz made four appearances in the WBC, so it would make sense that the Mets want his workload to be carefully monitored as would any team. It also helps that Puerto Rico’s big matchups against Venezuela and the Dominican Republic in pool play are separated by either a day off or another game in between in case he is needed for one of those mega clashes.

The last time Díaz appeared in back-to-back spring training games was in 2018 when he was with the Seattle Mariners. Even in that season, it was towards the end of March (March 22 and 23).

It helps Team Puerto Rico that they have a good amount of closer depth in case it is needed for the other games in Alexis Díaz (Reds) and Jorge Lopez (Twins). Plus, if the Puerto Rico offense performs like they did in pool play in 2017 when they outscored opponents 29-7, there won’t be much need to use Diaz on back-to-back games regardless.

While this tournament is a great thing for baseball, teams have to keep in mind that the other main goal besides winning the whole thing is to get the players back to their clubs in good health for the start of the regular season. For Díaz, the goal for him is to be ready to go for a full year in the Mets quest for a championship.