With Edwin Díaz having signed a three-year deal with the Dodgers, the Mets have lost perhaps the best reliever to have ever pitched for the franchise. Let’s take a look at how his time in Queens compares to that of the Mets’ other best relievers, a group that isn’t nearly as strong as the franchise’s rich group of starting pitchers but has had some very good pitchers nonetheless.
In the seven years that Dîaz spent with the Mets, Díaz pitched five full seasons, as the 2020 season was drastically abbreviated
during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and Díaz suffered a knee injury that cost him the entire 2023 season. Still, he made 332 appearances for the Mets, the ninth-most in franchise history among pitchers. And he finished 255 games, the third-most for a Met, and saved 144 games. Had he remained with the Mets for the rest of his career, he might’ve had a shot at surpassing John Franco’s franchise record 276 saves, but even one more full season would’ve almost certainly seen him pass Armando Benítez, whose 160 saves rank second.
Díaz ranks third all time among Mets relievers with 538 strikeouts, and had he remained with the Mets—or should he ever return even for just one season—he’d be set to surpass Tug McGraw’s 552 in short order and move into first place shortly thereafter, as John Franco’s 592 strikeouts are the franchise record.
By strikeout rate, Díaz was the best reliever the Mets have ever seen, and it’s not particularly close. In his time in Queens, he struck out 40.5 percent of opposiing hitters. Only Armando Benítez has surpassed thirty percent in his time as a Met (32.1%), and Hall of Famer Billy Wagner’s 29.9 percent strikeout rate as a Met ranks third among qualified relievers.
Díaz ranks 14th all time among Mets relievers with a 2.93 ERA, though adjusting for ballparks and era, his 73 ERA- ranks fifth. Addison Reed, Billy Wagner, Armando Benítez, and Jesse Orosco were all better in ERA-, but Reed’s and Wagner’s stints with the Mets were the shortest of the bunch.
And last but not least, by FIP-based fWAR, Díaz is the franchise leader with 9.0 wins above replacement as a reliever. Franco is just behind him with 8.9, and Orosco is in third with 7.0. On the bWAR side, McGraw and Orosco lead the way with 12.8 and 12.3, respectively, though bWAR includes the innings that both of them threw as starters. Among pitchers who pitched exclusively in relief for the Mets, Franco tops the list with 11.2 bWAR, Benítez is second with 9.8, and Díaz ranks third with 8.5.
