PORT ST. LUCIE — The Mets could not close — in terms of salary — with Edwin Diaz.
So instead of reaching agreement with their highest-profile addition of the offseason, the Mets renewed Diaz’s contract for 2019 at $607,425. The Mets had 26 players who were on the 40-man and had not yet reached arbitration. They reached agreements with 25 — all but Diaz.
Teams actually have until next Monday to finalize such contracts, but most teams make a deadline of an earlier date, and at that point either reach agreement or renew the contract. Some clubs take the salary down to the minimum wage ($555,000 in the majors this year) if the player refuses to sign. The Mets’ policy is to renew at the offer made based on a formula of statistics and accomplishments that they apply to all pre-arbitration 40-man players.
In recent years the Mets had renewed just two other players — Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard, who are represented by CAA, which until he was hired by the Mets is where GM Brodie Van Wagenen was an agent.
Van Wagenen said he had “no animosity” toward Diaz given the fact that this was resolved with a renewal and, “I absolutely think from my communications with both the agent and the player that there is not animosity coming back.”
When asked for comment, Diaz’s agent, Edwin Rodriguez, texted: “Not much to say, we didn’t reach an agreement and he got renewed.” To a follow-up question if this potentially harms the relationship between player and team, Rodriguez responded: “Not really. We understand this is a business and at the end of the day Diaz can only deal with the things he can control and that is playing baseball.”
Diaz made $545,000 last year in his final season with the Mariners, in which he recorded 57 saves — tied for the second most ever — and made the AL All-Star team. Prior to arbitration teams control salaries and can pay as low as the minimum each season. Diaz has two years and 121 days of service, which means he fell just short of being eligible for arbitration as a super 2 player. He will be eligible next offseason.