![Cb 17 scid](https://loka.nahovitsyn.com/169.jpg)
![edwin diaz edwin diaz](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/w_850,h_560,c_fill,g_auto,f_auto/https://calltothepen.com/files/2016/08/9351339-mlb-seattle-mariners-tampa-bay-rays-850x560.jpg)
Since Canó’s release was the big news this week, it’s easiest to start with him. So with Canó’s side of the trade wrapped up, it gives us an opportunity to take a look back at the trade once again and how it’s working out for both sides to this point. Now, nearly four years later, Canó was DFA’d by the Mets last week, ending his time in Queens. It was a controversial trade at the time that has been bandied about for years since, given the steep prospect cost it took to acquire the aging and expensive Canó and the volatile Díaz. He was acquired, along with his large contract, in a massive deal alongside Edwin Díaz in exchange for Jarred Kelenic, Justin Dunn, Gerson Bautista, Anthony Swarzak, and Jay Bruce. Díaz issues precious few walks (2.4 per nine innings), and only the sporadic home run-he’s allowed three-allows hitters even a shred of hope.Robinson Canó was sort of the symbol of Brodie Van Wagenen’s tumultuous tenure as Mets general manager. That would be the second-best in MLB history, a shade behind Craig Kimbrel’s 2012 with the Atlanta Braves. His fielding independent pitching number, an ERA analog that strips out everything but the strikeouts, walks, and home runs a pitcher directly controls, is 0.82. If Díaz stayed there all season, it’d be the highest single-season figure in the recorded history of the majors, according to Stathead (minimum 40 innings). He is striking hitters out at a rate of 18.1 per nine innings. Louis Cardinals’ Ryan Helsey at 0.79) Where Díaz stands apart from everyone else is in how purely unhittable he is on an at-bat to at-bat basis. Raw earned-run average doesn’t quite capture it, as Díaz’s 1.39 figure is of course excellent but does not even lead the league this year. But in a vacuum, Díaz in the first four months of the 2022 season has arguably been the most dominant pitcher in Major League Baseball’s history.
![edwin diaz edwin diaz](https://nesn.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2019/07/edwin-diaz-2.jpg)
That Rivera and Hoffman managed such longevity (19 seasons for Rivera, 18 for Hoffman) is why they were so special. Nothing lasts forever, and in the life of a closer, greatness can last about 13 seconds. In yet another feat, he even makes it hard not to feel fuzzy about the Mets. There will never be another Rivera, but at least in the entrance music department, Díaz has given Flushing a great answer to the Bronx legend. He is intoxicating to watch and, in a different way, intoxicating to try to hit. In another way, he is the opposite of a throwback, because there have been very few pitchers who can approximate what Díaz has been doing in 2022. In one way, Díaz harkens back to a time of cult-hero closers who became their own baseball brands on the strength of not just performance, but vibes. The whole experience is enamoring, both because of what’s old and what’s new about it. Thousands of fans hold up their phone cameras and clap along, united by great brass and the knowledge that they are about to watch a world-class artist whose brushes are a wipeout slider and a 99-mile-per-hour fastball. Met mime into their own trumpets as they stand on top of a dugout. I cannot imagine the shivers it must create in person. It is an emotional event to watch a Díaz entrance at Citi Field on one’s phone.
![Cb 17 scid](https://loka.nahovitsyn.com/169.jpg)