It’s not getting any better for the struggling Edwin Diaz. The closer, who was expected to be a dominant force out of the Mets’ pen, was hit hard yet again – this time by Victor Robles and the Washington Nationals.
Down 5-4 in the ninth inning, Diaz surrendered a two-run homer to Robles. The home run was the 11th longball that Diaz has surrendered this season, which is the most that he’s ever allowed in his four year career.
“It’s been tough,” Mickey Callaway said. “But the common denominator in all those homers is throwing right down the middle. He didn’t execute a pitch. That’s normally what happens when you give up a home run.” (Deesha Thosar, NY Daily News)
After yesterday’s outing, Diaz’s ERA climbs to 5.60 on the season. And since May 28, Diaz has yielded 24 runs in his last 23 innings.
It’s a shocking development for a reliever who was almost unhittable a year ago. In 73.1 innings last season, Diaz posted a 1.96 ERA and 0.79 WHIP with a lead leading total of 57 saves. But the former All-Star closer hasn’t looked anything like his stellar 2018 form during his first season in New York.
Given Diaz’s struggles, it looks like Seth Lugo could see more save chances going forward. Lugo has given up just one run over his last 17.2 innings, and he owns a 2.65 ERA and 0.91 WHIP overall. In Saturday’s 4-3 win, Lugo stayed in for the ninth inning with the Mets up 4-3, and he retired the Nationals in order.
“At this point, the sample sizes aren’t that small anymore,” Callaway said to reporters. “I believe that guys have earned the right to do something until they haven’t, and then you have to make adjustments. Now that we’ve played as many games as we have this season, you have to start factoring in what guys have done this year.”
Jacob Resnick of MMO suggested last night that Mets should consider sending Diaz down to the minors for a short period of time. That would allow Diaz to work out any issues – mechanical or mental – without having to deal with the pressure of the Mets’ playoff race.
I think things are approaching the point where you have to consider optioning Edwin Diaz to the minors for two weeks to get his confidence back.
It helps that he 1) can’t refuse an option and 2) recoups the missed service time if he spends less than 20 days in the minors.
— Jacob Resnick (@Jacob_Resnick) August 11, 2019
But even if the Mets don’t consider this move, it’s hard to trust Diaz in high leverage situations. Diaz has burned the Mets all season with many ninth inning implosions.
Diaz’s first loss occurred on April 28 against Cincinnati after surrounding a solo home run in the ninth inning of a 0-0 game. Diaz lost again on April 29 after giving up another solo home run.
But those losses against the Reds were only a glimpse of what was to come. A month later, Diaz had what he described as the “worst day of his career” in the Mets 9-8 loss to the Dodgers. Diaz gave up four runs in the ninth, while only retiring one batter.
Diaz would go onto have similar meltdowns against the Phillies. On June 27, he allowed five runs to blow the save. And on July 5, he managed only one out again and allowed four runs to score.
There’s still hope that Diaz will perform better, given his 14.6 K/9 and 3.33 xFIP, but with each meltdown, it gets harder to look at the silver linings. Opponents are hitting Diaz harder than ever before. His hard hit rate stands at 47.2%, which is the fifth worst mark out of all qualified relievers.
