Mets close deal with Edwin Diaz, a nice start to their offseason

HOUSTON

In the case of Edwin Diaz, perseverance paid off.

Though it helps to have a mega-billionaire Mets fan as an owner, too.

But here’s what’s clear after Diaz agreed to a five-year, $102 million contract on Sunday, as reported by Newsday’s Tim Healey, four whole days before hitting the open market. Cohen again is putting his money where his mouth is. If Diaz truly wanted to stay with the Mets, as he repeatedly said this season, then Cohen wasn’t going to let him change his mind over the cash, giving him a record-breaking deal for a relief pitcher.

For the Mets, and their loyal if tortured fan base, that is a remarkably great place to be. Also, don’t count out Cohen’s desire to change the narrative of the Mets’ September fade plunging into the total darkness of that premature October playoff exit.

With one swipe of the pen, Cohen changed the sad trombones to happy trumpets.

What a refreshing change from general manager Billy Eppler’s post-mortem a few weeks back, when his company line of “no regrets “ rang hollow after a 101-win team somehow went belly-up in the last week-plus of its existence. Eppler saw no problem with his weak return from the trade deadline — he did keep the top 19 prospects, remember? — but the one trump card he had to play this winter was Cohen’s checkbook.

And as soon as this offseason began, with the Astros closing out the Phillies late Saturday night, Cohen didn’t waste any time flexing his financial might. Of all the Mets’ free agents, you could argue that Diaz was the most irreplaceable and thus worthy of the generous payout right from the jump.

But there’s a few reasons for that. Not only do the Mets have zero in the way of in-house options — making him extremely valuable as the ace of an otherwise barren bullpen — but Diaz’s brilliant performance is worth even more based on the fact that he’s proved himself in the unyielding Flushing crucible. As the Mets have learned over the years, and Cohen surely knows from his own longtime observations, importing a star player from somewhere else and dropping him into Citi Field can be a risky proposition.

Look no further than Francisco Lindor’s freshman year in Flushing. And when it involves closers, the situation tends to be more combustible, based on the nightly do-or-die nature of the gig. Diaz already has survived that part, having been considered Brodie Van Wagenen’s prospect-burning bust, along with enduring the relentless boos that accompanied such a label.

But Diaz didn’t succumb to those pressures. He beat the rap, and along the way, was the same cool customer, both in the clubhouse and on the mound. Good day, bad day, same Diaz. And he emerged on the other side this season, putting together a spectacular 32-save audition for a new deal, with a 1.31 ERA and 17.1 K/9 ratio (118 strikeouts in 62 innings) that helped earn him his first All-Star nod.

Diaz blew away the previous record for a closer, the five-year, $86 million pact Aroldis Chapman got from the Yankees before the 2017 season. That one certainly didn’t age well, as Chapman missed a chunk of this season because of an infected tattoo and then was essentially kicked off the team for not showing up at mandatory pre-playoff workouts.

There’s no worries about extracurricular nonsense with Diaz, which is part of what should make him a smart investment. Now it’s just a matter of him staying intact physically, which is never a sure thing with someone who regularly throws triple-digit fastballs (Diaz maxed out at 102 mph this past season).  But that’s the dice roll with relievers, and the market tends to get crazy with the elite ones.

The Mets also added a team option for a sixth year that could bring the total value to $122 million; Diaz got an opt-out for after the third season and a full no-trade clause  for the first three years, then partial after that.

So with Cohen making it rain for Diaz, giving him the eighth contract of at least $100 million in franchise history, what does that mean for the rest of the Mets’ offseason?

It’s still too early to tell. The World Series just ended Saturday. But with the GM meetings set to kick off Monday in Las Vegas, the big-game hunting is about to begin, and we’ll get a better feel on some of the price tags later this month.

But the Mets locking up Diaz early to this monster deal, less than a calendar year after swooping in to give Max Scherzer the highest annual salary in the business, suggests that Uncle Steve may not be so worried about paying that “Cohen Tax” and being the first team to blow past $300 million after all.

Great for Diaz, and a pretty decent start to the Mets’ offseason as well.

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.