But president of baseball operations David Stearns is in the business of paying for future value, not past performance, which makes Díaz’s return ambiguous. Assuming the closer opts out of the final two years and $38 million guaranteed on his contract, the realistic options to replace him look a little something like this:
Aside from Díaz, three impending free agents finished this season as their team’s primary closer: Robert Suarez of the Padres, Kenley Jansen of the Angels and Emilio Pagán of the Reds. All are multiple years older than Díaz, including Jansen, who just turned 38 and, despite a strong season, posted the highest expected ERA of his career. Jansen may be a likely Hall of Famer, but he doesn’t profile as an obvious Díaz replacement at this point in his career.
Of the remaining two, Suarez holds more brand value as an All-Star who throws triple digits and led the National League with 40 saves, but Pagán arguably had the better overall season. Both are reasonable closer options. They’re just not Díaz.
Based on career history, the most intriguing free agent out there may be Ryan Helsley, a two-time All-Star who led the Majors in saves just one year ago. But don’t count on the Mets re-signing Helsley after he came to them at the Trade Deadline, labored with pitch tipping issues and ultimately produced a 7.20 ERA. Replacing Díaz with Helsley would be nothing short of a public relations nightmare.
Still, nearly every top-flight free agent comes with red flags, including Devin Williams, Luke Weaver and Raisel Iglesias, all of whom lost their closing jobs in 2025. What’s more, the best setup man on the open market may be the Mets’ own free agent, Tyler Rogers. He’s a specialist with relatively little ninth-inning experience. Others include Brad Keller, Shawn Armstrong and Seranthony Domínguez. Michael Kopech, who missed much of this season due to injuries, profiles as the type of high-upside, bounce-back candidate Stearns has historically favored, but his range of outcomes in 2026 is wide.
The most obvious closer potentially available is Tampa Bay’s Pete Fairbanks, who has saved 75 games with a 2.98 ERA over the last three seasons. His name has been bandied about in trade talks for much of that tenure, and the Rays haven’t been shy about dealing from their bullpen in the recent past — including trades to send Brooks Raley and Phil Maton to the Mets. Those front offices have a productive working relationship.
Other leverage types rumored to be available at last year’s deadline included Pittsburgh’s Dennis Santana and St. Louis’ JoJo Romero, both of whom will likely see their salaries rise through arbitration this winter. However, it seems unlikely Stearns would eschew the top options available in free agency only to spend significant prospect capital on a closer trade.
No one currently in the Mets’ organization qualifies as an Opening Day replacement for Díaz. The closest thing, A.J. Minter, is coming off a serious lat injury and will need to ramp up during Spring Training; the Mets will want to take a look at him before committing to him in any specific role.
Rookies Jonathan Pintaro and Dylan Ross could become bullpen factors at some point in 2026, perhaps even on Opening Day. So could No. 22 prospect Ryan Lambert, who profiles as a future closer. But considering the three of them have combined for two total outs in the Majors, none are Opening Day answers.
So what’s the solution?
As with Alonso, the simplest, neatest answer is re-signing Díaz. He’s the best reliever available, full stop.
Should the Mets choose not to do so, they are unlikely to try replacing him with a single arm. Instead, Stearns would probably attempt to diversify his assets, using the dollars allocated to Díaz to bring in a slew of relievers on Major League deals. The idea there would be guarding against the volatility of relief pitching in a way that committing heavily to a single arm would not.
It’s a practical way of looking at the bullpen. A more popular strategy? That would be re-signing Díaz and never looking back.
