Even before the regular season started, you could hear it in Mets’ manager Luis Rojas voice that the team couldn’t afford to stay with Edwin Diaz as the closer if he continued his struggles.

Well, the struggles continued big time –  and could’ve been much worse if not for a bailout from Paul Sewald – on Thursday night when Diaz came into the game with the Mets trailing 3-2 in the ninth.

Diaz last pitched on July 25, so Rojas felt it was a good spot to get him work in a high leverage situation. The inning started with a walk to Alex Verdugo followed by a Michael Chavis single and then a four-pitch walk to Andrew Benintendi. All of a sudden the bases were loaded with nobody out in a one-run game.

After striking out Rafael Devers for the first out, Diaz then hit Jose Peraza with a pitch. His 35th and last of the night, as Paul Sewald came into replace him. The line for Diaz would look much worse if not for Sewald getting both batters he faced without letting any inherited runners score.

1/3 IP, H, ER, 2 BB, K, HBP, 35 pitches/19 strikes

A whopping 35 pitches from Diaz to get only one out, leading Rojas to say, “We need to talk” after the game when asked about Edwin’s outing.

“That’s something that we’re going to do as a staff, me as the manager, and we’ll talk with the player. We want to keep him on track to what he showed us in camp that he didn’t show tonight. It’s something that, from our coaching standpoint, we’ve got to detect right away and just work on it, fix it quick.”

This poor outing from Diaz comes after he blew the save against the Braves in his previous appearance, when he gave up a game-tying solo homer to Marcell Ozuna in the ninth inning. A game the Mets ended up losing.

To be clear, I use the term closer because that’s generally what the Mets have used and it’s easier to say than high leverage reliever in the most important spots of the game. What we are really discussing is the changing of the bullpen pecking order in terms of who they trust more in big spots.

At this point, it’s tough to call the tenor for Diaz in Flushing anything but horrendous. His 2020 early season lumps follow a 2019 season in which he had a 5.59 ERA and allowed an ugly 15 home runs in 58 innings. Not at all what Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen had in mind when he agreed to trade two of his top prospects – outfielder Jarred Kelenic and right-handed pitcher Justin Dunn – to the Mariners for Diaz and second baseman Robinson Cano.

But let’s get away from what looks like a horrific trade for now, the Mets still have a chance to make the playoffs in this unconventional season. The good news for them is how Jeurys Familia pitched on Thursday night. The right-hander retired the side in order on 13 pitches, striking out J.D. Martinez and new-Mets killer Christian Vazquez on nasty sliders.

Familia threw seven sliders on the night, four of them produced swings and misses. He averaged 89.5 mph on the pitch and maxed out at 91. His sinker looked good as well, averaging 96.6 mph and had three of the six land for called strikes.

The former Mets closer has allowed two runs in 3 2/3 innings this year and has walked only one batter, he had a career-worst 6.3 BB/9 in 2019.

When Rojas was asked during Summer Camp about the closer/high leverage roles, he mentioned that Familia’s stuff was among the best in camp and certainly closer to his old self. Familia certainly has the experience of pitching high leverage with success in New York, he set a club record with 51 saves in 2016 and his 2.9 bWAR season in 2015 is one the best my a reliever in team history.

The Mets have another former closer as an option in Dellin Betances. The former Yankee does have two scoreless innings under his belt so far, but his fastball velocity is not fully back yet and I doubt the Mets feel he’s ready for that role already.

Mets relief ace Seth Lugo is another option and has one save on the season. Justin Wilson has previous closer experience as well. Should also note that reliever Drew Smith looked terrific on Thursday night and has yet to give up a baserunner in 2 2/3 innings.

With the assumption that Diaz gets removed from big spots, I would expect the trio of Familia, Lugo, and Wilson to be the guys the Mets lean on the heaviest.

With the Mets at 3-4 in a 60-game season, there’s no room to keep hoping that Diaz is flashing back to his days in Seattle. Rojas and the front office need to make a quick decision as to how they will handle high leverage spots going forward.