Mets’ Edwin Diaz discusses potential opt-out after 2025 season: ‘I feel really good right here’

The Mets had an interesting offseason. They signed Juan Soto to the most lucrative contract in baseball history and brought back homegrown slugger Pete Alonso after a long and sometimes contentious negotiation.

So with the Mets feeling good about their roster heading into 2025, there are questions that need to be answered after the season is over.

While fans and the baseball world are thinking about Alonso’s opt-out after this season, there’s another longtime Met who has an option coming up, closer Edwin Diaz.

Diaz enters spring training two years removed from his freak injury at the World Baseball Classic that cost him all of the 2023 season, and after a year where his performance was volatile, the closer has a decision to make: Test free agency or stay in Queens?

“That’s something I gotta look at after the season with my agent, see where we’re at and make a decision,” Diaz told Newsday’s Tim Healy on Friday. “Right now, I’m not thinking about that. I want to help this team win. I love this team. I want to stay here because I love the team, I love the coaches, I love the ownership, I love everyone. I feel really good right here.”

Diaz signed a five-year, $102 million deal with the Mets after the 2022 season. It’s still the largest contract ever for a reliever and if Diaz opts in, he’ll get $38 million across the final two years of his deal.

How Diaz performs in 2025 will impact his potential free agency decision. If he returns to his 2022 form, there may be a market for him. But if he has another year like he did in 2024, the right-hander may choose the guaranteed money.

Coming back from that WBC injury last year, Diaz was up and down. He pitched to a 3.52 ERA and recorded 20 saves but blew seven opportunities. He had a shoulder injury, was suspended for sticky stuff, and lost his job for a stretch when he just didn’t have it.

To Diaz’s — and manager Carlos Mendoza’s — credit the All-Star closer did find his way. In September and October, Diaz pitched to a 1.93 ERA and made five saves. He also closed two games in the postseason, giving up three runs in 8.2 innings pitched.

Diaz believes this spring, an extra year removed from the knee injury, will benefit him.

“I got more freedom this year,” Diaz said. “I feel really good because I’m able to work on whatever I want. I don’t have to ask trainers, coaches, anyone, ‘Can I do this?’ Now I go out there and play catch, do whatever I want and that’s it.”