Dropping the Ball
Morning Dose: Wednesday, December 10
☀️ Good Morning:
Everyone breathe.
It’s cold enough we shouldn’t even be thinking about baseball, but here we are.
In case you missed it, I sent out a special evening edition of the newsletter with a bunch of thoughts on the Edwin Díaz and Kyle Schwarber news. Make sure you check it out if you haven’t already (it is free to all to read):
This morning, we will discuss some additional details we learned overnight, before previewing the Rule 5 Draft.
📰 ABOVE THE FOLD
⇢ PIECING IT TOGETHER
Less than 24 hours after learning Edwin Díaz won’t be returning to the Mets, we are still trying to piece together the exact reasons why.
We discussed some possible reasons last night, noting his brother’s positive experience in Los Angeles last summer, and how Edwin wasn’t thrilled with losing pitching coach Jeremy Hefner.
🔻Poor Negotiation Tactics? The Mets might have also fumbled this one out of the gate.
The Dodgers were reportedly quietly wooing Díaz over the past few weeks, while the Mets never made a formal offer until the final 24 hours. New York was too busy focusing on Devin Williams, leaving their resident closer miffed he never received a heads up they were going to sign him.
“Now, he’s a free agent so perhaps that’s understandable, but he was not happy about that,” MLB insider Jeff Passan said on SportsCenter on Tuesday.
And it appears Díaz’ frustration was justified:
