The Mets Trade For Robinson Cano And Edwin Diaz Has Reportedly Been Agreed To

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After days of waiting and trying to figure out which prospects/players the Mets would send to the Mariners, it sounds like the deal is official. The Mets acquire Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz for a package that includes Jarred Kelenic going to Seattle but it appears Jeff McNeil will stay in Queens.

Now here are my thoughts on the deal after having roughly 96 hours to stew on it. I honestly don’t love it, at least as of right now. I know that Robinson Cano is still a legitimate big league bat with a boner-inducing swing and was actually pretty decent even after returning from his PED suspension (.317/.363/.497 with 6 HR in 41 games). I know that Edwin Diaz is a 24-year-old beast of a closer with an electric arm that may not cause Mets fans to have a heart attack every time he comes in with a lead. I also know that Jarred Kelenic is no lock to become the next Mike Trout the way some people on #MetsTwitter built him up to be and could very easily be the next Lastings Milledge, Fernando Martinez, or Alex Escobar. I like McNeil staying with the Mets even though I never let myself fall in love with him this year just because it seems there is always a guy that gets hot with the Mets as a rookie then gets exposed once he becomes a full-time big leaguer.

There has been a train of thought that if you trade Bruce and Swarzak’s deals for Cano’s deal plus the cash, then trade the prospects for a stud like Diaz, it looks like a good move for both sides. I get all that. But I also know that Robbie Cano was suspended half a season for testing positive for PEDs last year, just turned 36, and had questions about how much he cared back when he was playing for the Yankees. If Cano had trouble getting up for games while playing for the Yankees during a pennant race, what is he going to be like when he is 39 and playing for a Mets team 15 games out of first in August? Fuck lollygagging. Cano may stop getting dressed while playing in a depressing half-full Citi Field and try to hit the ball with his dick.

There is no doubt that Diaz is a stud and was the best closer in baseball last season. A 24-year-old putting up a 1.96 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, and a 15.22 K/9 while saving the 2nd-most games in Major League history is no joke. As someone that has lived through the ups and downs of Armando Benitez, Braden Looper, Billy Wagner, and Jeurys Familia, I would love nothing more than the Mets closer no longer being a punchline let alone being a lights out monster. But in a year where there are a plethora of reliever options in free agency and in a time where seemingly every other bullpen arm throws straight fire, I don’t know if I would trade my first round pick from last year and 2016 for a closer, unless I am sure he will be the closest thing we see to Mo Rivera. I also know that Diaz is under team control for the next four seasons while even the 4th or 5th best option of those free agents would cost a decent amount. But Diaz will be eligible for arbitration after next season and if he is anywhere as good for the Mets as he was for the Mariners, he will be making a lot more in 2020-2022 than the $570,000 he made this year. Oh yeah and this article as well as pretty much everything I have seen as a Mets fan doesn’t make me feel all that great.

NY Post- According to Noel Sevilla, the scout who recommended and signed Diaz, the two sides had agreed on the slot figure of $485,000 (the Puerto Rico native Diaz was the 98th player selected overall) before the right-hander’s physical examination revealed a bone spur in his right elbow. The bonus consequently dropped to $300,000. Diaz’s agent, Edwin Rodriguez, confirmed this turn of events.

The bone spur has never bothered Diaz, Rodriguez said, and the 24-year-old has never been placed on the disabled list in the majors. “It can always present itself as a problem at any point,” Dr. Umer Dasti, a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon at Ridgewood Orthopedic Group in New Jersey, said Saturday in a telephone interview. “The fact that it hasn’t presented itself is a good sign.”

Chekhov’s Bone Spur Condition like you read about.

My biggest problem with the deal is that the Mets seemingly had a good amount of the bargaining power considering Cano had a full no-trade clause and the M’s seemingly were dying to get rid of his contract. As someone that lived through his favorite basketball team being held hostage by Carmelo Anthony’s no trade clause, I thought the Mets probably wouldn’t have to raid the farm system if they would eat a bunch of Cano’s deal. When the rumors of $60 million got floated out there, adding Kelenic, Dunn, and Bautista made a lot more sense. But that $60 million sounds like it turned into $20 million. Rumors of Cano’s monstrosity of a contract being sent to the Yankees for Jacoby Ellsbury’s corpse somehow turning into Cano and Diaz being sent to the Mets for two bad but short-term contracts and three prospects has all the makings of a Mets fans nightmare.

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However, as someone that has been pleading for the Wilpons to spend money and try to compete while they have guys like deGrom and Syndergaard under contract, I can’t complain that they are seemingly going for it. But you gotta do more than making a trade for an aging second baseman that just got popped for PEDs and will likely start showing serious signs of declining with the two “problem” contracts you sent back to Seattle were literally signed less than a year ago. Adding a closer to a team that won 77 games and was 23rd in runs scored isn’t going to guarantee the playoffs either and Mets fans will be holding their breath every time Diaz throws a ball because that’s how we are conditioned to react when we have any remotely live arm on the team.

So I am reserving my judgement on this trade until we see what else Brodie does. If he can somehow Jedi mindtrick the Wilpons into spending big on another free agent as the Mets make one last bid to compete for a title before deGrom and Syndergaard get PAID, I’m in. But it’s hard to take this push seriously when we know how cheap the Wilpons can be and that Thor was reportedly being shopped for prospects. The Mets didn’t have any guaranteed money tied up after the 2020 season before this trade. Now they have $72 million invested in Robinson Cano when he is 38, 39, and 40. Again, I want to be positive. But this franchise has beaten that positivity out of me throughout my entire life and being stuck with the end of Cano’s humongous deal that our GM actually negotiated back when he was an agent would be peak Mets. Prove me wrong Brodie and sign Bryce Harper or Manny Machado. Or just half measure the shit out of the next few seasons while Mets fans convince themselves that Jarred Kelenic will make an All-Star team before we see meaningful September baseball games in Queens again.