Former Mets manager recalls how he learned about star closer's freak injury

The two-time All-Star suffered what ended up being a season-ending right patellar tendon tear immediately following Puerto Rico's 5-2 win over the Dominican Republic in the final game of pool play at the WBC. 

Diaz went down with the injury after closing out the victory and briefly celebrating with teammates, before falling to the ground.

The 29-year-old was the best closer in MLB in 2022, going 3-1 with 32 saves and a career-best 1.31 ERA, as well as a 0.83 WHIP and eye-popping 118 to 18 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 61 appearances covering 62 innings. 

Diaz was named the NL Reliever of the Month for June, July and August and finished inside the top 10 in the senior circuit's Cy Young voting (ninth), which is rare for relievers.

He won the Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year Award at the end of the 2022 campaign and was rewarded with a five-year, $102M contract in November of that year. The deal made Diaz the highest-paid relief pitcher in MLB history at the time before Josh Hader surpassed the mark in January.

Thanks in part to injuries to Diaz, co-aces Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer and others, the Mets had a historically disappointing 2023 regular season.

New York entered the year with the highest payroll in baseball and with superstars like Scherzer, Verlander, first baseman Pete Alonso and shortstop Francisco Lindor, fans in Queens had expectations of a World Series run. 

Instead, injuries and underwhelming play led to the team going into sell mode at the trade deadline and saw them ship off both Scherzer and Verlander.

The Mets immediately fired Showalter after the season that ended with a 75-87 mark and fourth-place finish in the NL East.