FROM GOAT TO G.O.A.T.

By John Strubel
In Blog
May 9, 2022
4 Min Read
Add Comment
F

FROM GOAT TO G.O.A.T.

When the New York Mets announced they had released Robinson Cano I began to reflect on just how much the landscape of the New York Mets franchise has shifted since the day Cano and Edwin Diaz first slipped on the Mets pinstripes for the media.

Since then:

  1. The New York Mets have been sold to Steve Cohen. Mets fans no longer need to suffer through the experience Jeff Wilpon’s beady eyes and long face at the press conference table.
  2. Brodie Van Wagenen was fired as general manager after two short, futile years.
  3. Jay Bruce: One of the five players sent to Seattle in the deal is now retired.
  4. Jarred Kelenic: Once the top prospect in the Mets system, Kelenic has played in 120 games over the 2021-22 seasons and is batting a combined .175.
  5. Gerson Bautista: Pitched eight games for the Mariners in 2019 and hasn’t pitched in the MLB since. At last check, he pitched for two teams in the Mexican League. In seven appearances combined, he has compiled an ERA of 27.00, allowing 12 runs in five innings.
  6. Justin Dunn: Was traded by the Mariners to the Cincinnati Reds in the offseason. He has not pitched at all in 2022.
  7. Anthony Swarzak: He has jumped from Seattle to Atlanta and Arizona and Kansas City since 2019 but has not pitched at any level in 2022.
  8. Edwin Diaz: The Mets closer has found his mojo in New York after several ups-and-downs.
  9. Robinson Cano: Played 168 games for the Mets, batting .269 with 24 homers, 72 RBIs. He missed the entire 2021 season for a PED suspension.

Nearly four years removed from the seven-player deal that created a lot of debate, we can now look at the trade with some supporting performance data to mine whether the either team actually “won” the deal.

At age 39, Cano is a free agent. Will he ever get another MLB at bat? That remains to been seen. As for Kelenic, the jury is still out. What we do know is, Kelenic is not ready for prime time. The question now is, can he regain the confidence required to hit at the level he was expected to.

The additional pieces — Bruce, Bautista, Dunn and Swarzak — were all hit-or-miss at the time of the trade. Dunn and Bautista were young hopefuls, Bruce and Swarzak were aging vets. The Mariners missed on all of them. The Mariners strategy was to cut payroll and they achieved that by eliminating an overextended, underperforming, aging player (Cano).

Which brings us to the one player who now makes the trade look like a steal for the Mets: Edwin Diaz.

The same Edwin Diaz that Mets fans uttered foul language and guttural screams as they watched him melt down in critical situations. Diaz piled up an impressive number of blown saves over the first two seasons in New York.

This is also the same Edwin Diaz who snuffed out the Philadelphia Phillies to finish off a no-hitter last week vs. Phillies and the same Edwin Diaz who is now being held out as the next player the team needs to secure with a long-term contract extension.

For Edwin Diaz, time has changed the entire conversation.

He has gone from GOAT to G.O.A.T.

EMAIL ALERTS
I agree to have my personal information transfered to MailChimp ( more information )
Thank you for visiting my website! If you enjoyed what you've read, I hope you will consider signing up for email alerts. I will send you an email when new content is posted.
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.
FacebookTwitterReddit

About the author

John Strubel

Hi. My name is John Strubel. Thanks for visiting my website. I write primarily about my passion: baseball. In addition, I occasionally publish posts and podcasts related to sports media, journalism and technology impacting the industry. You can also connect with me on social media @johnstrubel.

View all posts

Add Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Read more