Mets pitcher Edwin Díaz and shortstop Francisco Lindor have had some stellar seasons during their respective Major League Baseball careers—but this season isn’t one of them, and their grapples with playing well below their self-expectations and career standards have manifested in the Mets faltering.
The team had lost seven of their previous nine games and were 21-27 before facing the Cleveland Guardians on the road in yesterday afternoon’s getaway game. The Mets had plunged to their lowest mark below .500 this season in dropping the first two games of the series, 3-1 on Monday and 7-6 on Tuesday. They were in fourth place in the National League East.
Diaz has been unable to pitch to the form that made him one of baseball’s top closers in past seasons.
“I won’t lie—my confidence, I feel, is down right now,” he lamented after taking the mound with the Mets up 9-5 versus the Miami Marlins on the road last Saturday and giving up four runs in the ninth inning. The Mets eventually lost 10-9 in 10 innings.
“I’m making pitches, I’m throwing strikes,” Díaz contended. “I’m trying to do my best to help the team win [but] right now, I’m not in that capacity.”
After a 2022 campaign in which he was arguably the sport’s best at his job, posting 32 saves in 61 appearances with a record of 3-1, a 1.31 ERA, and 0.839 WHIP in 62 innings pitched, Díaz was out all of last season after tearing the patellar tendon in his right knee in March 2023. He sustained the injury while jumping in celebration after his Puerto Rico squad defeated the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.
Ironically, the injury occurred at LoanDepot Park in Miami, where Díaz was rocked last Saturday for his third blown save in his last four appearances before being removed from the closer’s spot by manager Carlos Mendoza the next day.
“Right now, he’s going through it—he’s going through a rough stretch. Our job is to get him back on track. He’ll do whatever it takes to help this team win a baseball game,” said Mendoza after Sunday’s 7-3 win over the Marlins to close up the three-game series.
As for Lindor, the four-time All-Star was batting an alarming .198 and an OPS of just .620, which ranked 150th going into the series finale yesterday. His power numbers (7 homers and 23 RBI) were midlining. The Mets need Lindor to be effective in hitting out of the leadoff spot to generate offense for a team that has not produced runs consistently.
The Mets will be at home to host the San Francisco Giants for three games tomorrow through Sunday, and then face the Los Angeles Dodgers for three Monday through Wednesday.
The Yankees were 33-17 and in first place in the American League East when they took on the Seatlle Mariners in the Bronx last night. They’ll end the four-game series with the Mariners this afternoon and travel to San Diego to play the Padres in a three-game series this weekend before three versus the Los Angeles Angels next Tuesday through Thursday.