After another outing on Saturday where Edwin Diaz surrendered a home run, manager Mickey Callaway would not commit to keeping the right-hander as the set closer going forward.
According to Matt Ehalt of Yahoo Sports, Callaway did not say “no” when asked if the team could consider flipping the red hot Seth Lugo and Diaz’s roles out of the bullpen. When a follow up question was asked, Callaway said there are no locked roles for relievers right now.
Diaz, 25, is having a rough season in his first year with the Mets, pitching to a 5.44 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 1.465 WHIP, 10.0 H/9 and 2.1 HR/9, all of which are career highs.
As for Lugo, 29, the right-hander just secured the National League Reliever of the Month award. On the campaign, Lugo has a 2.68 ERA, 3.01 FIP, 0.969 WHIP and 11.7 K/9. The Shreveport, Louisiana native has easily been the Mets most reliable reliever, and with the team hoping to sneak into a Wild Card spot, could choose to use him in higher leverage situations.
“We have to be open-minded,” Callaway said, according to Tim Healey of Newsday. “We can’t lock ourselves in to one thing.”
Diaz, who was unaware of the comments, said he just wants to help the team in whatever role he has.
“He hasn’t spoken to me about it,” Diaz said. “But, we’ll find out in the game today.”
