Mets closer Edwin Diaz looked more like the closer the Mets believed they were getting when Brodie Van Wagenen made that stupid trade. With that, faith in Diaz has been temporarily restored.

And yet, we see a pattern emerge with Diaz. He’s become an every other year player. Just look at his career FIP:

• 2016 – 2.04
• 2017 – 4.02
• 2018 – 1.61
• 2019 – 4.51
• 2020 – 2.18

If his pattern continues, we can expect another FIP over 4.00, or put another way, we could see a repeat of his disappointing 2019 season.

On that note, Diaz is projected by MLB Trade Rumors to make upwards of $6.5 million in arbitration. For his top form, that’s a significant discount. When he has his off year, not so much.

Looking forward, from the Mets perspective, this is arguably the highest his trade value will ever be. He’s coming off a great year, still has two years of control remaining, and will be making reasonable money.

Further highlighting his value is how teams are claiming they’re cash strapped. This has led to a number of straight out poor decisions like the Cleveland Indians declining Brad Hand‘s option, and the St. Louis Cardinals declining Kolten Wong‘s option.

Teams who need a closer may be enticed to part with assets to acquire a Diaz over signing a reliever. On that front, the Mets have a lot of needs. Those needs include third, center, and pitching depth.

The Mets could look to fill one of those slots with Diaz as a big chip. The Mets could then look to a suppressed free agent market to replace Diaz. For instance, the Mets could sign Hand and/or Liam Hendriks.

In fact, the ability to sign Hand and Hendriks gives the Mets the latitude here to shop Diaz. The key word here is shop. By no means are the Mets obligated to move him, nor should they give him away. On that note, the Mets could still sign those two and make about as dominant a bullpen as you’ll ever see.

The overriding point is with the talent available on the free agent market, and the teams not spending, this would be the time to see what the Mets could get for Diaz. Ultimately, it’s the prudent thing to do with Diaz at his peak value, and it may be the best route to building the best possible roster.