There's no guarantee that if the New York Mets had offered Edwin Diaz the exact same contract as the Los Angeles Dodgers that he still wouldn't have picked L.A. Anyway.
But the amount the Mets came up short on their offer is almost laughable.
Diaz signed with the Dodgers for a reported three years and $69 million total.
According to MLB insider Joel Sherman, the Mets' offer to Diaz was for three years and $66 million, with "modest deferrals."
The Mets' offer for Edwin Diaz was three years at $66M with modest deferrals, according to a source.
— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) December 9, 2025
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Not accounting for the deferrals, that's $1 million a year. For Mets owner Steve Cohen, that's not even a rounding error.
It's hard to believe the Mets would've stopped the bidding that close to the finish line.
It suggests that maybe Diaz really did just want to join the Dodgers. Going to the back-to-back World Series champs may have been appealing relative to staying on board with the Mets, who just collapsed all the way into missing the 2025 postseason entirely.
That won't placate Mets fans too much, though. Cohen is supposed to be the owner who will spend anything.
And clearly, the Mets were involved. It's not like they simply punted on getting Diaz back. They made him a competitive offer.
But in the end, New York offered just a tad less than the Dodgers, and Diaz is gone. Interpret that however you'd like.
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