Dodgers’ Edwin Diaz ‘Disrespected’ By Mets Before Exit, Teammate Says

Los Angeles, CA December 12: Dodgers new star closer Edwin Díaz speaks wearing his new uniform during a press conference announcing his three-year, $69 million contract at Dodger Stadium on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. Díaz was considered the top reliever on the market. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers have made a habit of acquiring the best available free agent talent every winter, but one of their latest star acquisitions was still a surprise.

Facing some questions about their bullpen, the team signed the most accomplished closer on the market by landing Edwin Diaz, despite the fact that he was negotiating a return with the New York Mets, where he had earned two All-Star bids in a seven-year stint.

Diaz had opted out of the remaining two years and $38 million left on his contract with the Mets, but the team extended a qualifying offer to him and then made him a new contract proposal that was competitive with the Dodgers’ offer, with a willingness to go higher, before he cut off negotiations to sign with the Los Angeles instead.

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New York Mets Owner Steve Cohen Confused By Los Angeles Dodgers, Edwin Diaz Decision

Mets owner Steve Cohen revealed that the team’ never pushed for the kind of conditional fourth-year option that the Dodgers included in Diaz’s contract, which would kick in if he is injured.

“I did find that one perplexing,” Cohen told team broadcaster Howie Rose earlier this year. “I could argue our bid might have been better than the Dodgers’ when you have that fourth conditional year that I don’t think people were really talking about in his contract.”

But while the Mets can argue that the specifics of their contract offer were favorable and that a return to the organization where he had so much success should appeal to Diaz, there was evidently one other factor that might have pushed the closer to his new team.

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New York Mets ‘Disrespected’ Edwin Diaz With Insurance Plan, Los Angeles Dodgers Teammate Kike Hernandez Says

While Diaz explored his free agency options last year, the Mets signed two-time National League Reliever of the Year Devin Williams as some insurance for their bullpen. Though that did not preclude it from bringing Diaz back as well, the team did not communicate their decision with Diaz and that might have pushed him to the Dodgers.

“I realized Edwin probably feels a little disrespected by this,” Dodgers utility man Kike Hernandez, who helped facilitate offseason negotiations between Diaz and the Dodgers’ front office, told The Athletic’s Katie Woo and Will Sammon.

In his own public comments following the negotiations, Diaz had only said positive things about his former team. And he has framed his decision to defect to the Dodgers as one more motivated by the opportunity to win a championship there than by anything concerning the Mets.

But as his new teammate has now revealed, the Mets’ decision to grab some insurance for their relief corps in the midst of negotiations with their franchise closer might have ended up costing them . And, perhaps even worse from their perspective, it might have sent Diaz directly into the arms of the National League’s reigning powerhouse.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com