Mariners can thank closer Diaz for success in close game
He has a common Hispanic name — the kind you expect to encounter on any major league roster. He plays for a relatively small-market team that doesn’t get on national television very often. Moreover, that team is located on the West Coast and most of its home games end after midnight on the East Coast.
If you wanted to profile an underrated ballplayer it would be difficult to find a better example than Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Edwin Diaz.
The Mariners have not been in the postseason for 17 years and very few forecasters thought that drought (the longest in the majors) would this year. At best they looked like an average team and that was before their best player — Robinson Cano — drew an 80game suspension for a failed a drug test.
For the most part, they are an average team. They’re 10th in the American League in runs scored. They’re seventh in runs allowed. Yet they’re fourth in games won. They’ve reached the All-Star break with 58 victories and a .598 winning percentage. If the season ended today they’d play the Yankees in the wildcard game.
How have they done it? By winning the close ones, that’s how. The Mariners are 2612 in one-run games. They’re 12-3 in two-run games. They’re 8-0 in extra innings. That’s what great relief pitching can do for a team.
Diaz has pitched in 43 of those 58 victories, earning saves in 36. He is on a pace to threaten the single-season saves record of 62, established 10 years ago by Francisco Rodriguez.
Most observers consider the Angels’ Mike Trout to be the best player in baseball. I agree.
I disagree, however, that that makes him the game’s most valuable player.
At this point in the season no player — not even Trout — has meant as much to his team as Edwin Diaz.
Every major sport makes a television show out of its Hall of Fame inductions. Baseball adds a twist to it. It does it while games are going on.
Every sport makes a television show out of its player draft. Baseball adds the same twist to that show. It does it while games are going on.
In short, baseball constantly finds ways to compete with its own product.
Maybe that can’t be helped. An outdoor event in Cooperstown, N.Y., can happen only in the summer. A player draft has to occur in June, after the high school and college seasons have ended.
But baseball could still be smarter about one event. Baseball has a unique event it calls the Futures Game. This is an All-Star event that showcases minor league stars, many of whom will soon make an impact on the major league game. It emphasizes the global nature of the sport by matching the best prospects from the United States against the best the prospects from other countries. It could be a great promotional event if it weren’t for the fact that it’s always played on the Sunday afternoon when other games are going on.
This time it doesn’t have to be. Officially the All-Star break lasts three days. For most teams, however, it lasts four days. It wouldn’t be a major step to make the four-day break official and play the AllStar Game on a Wednesday. If the home run derby were on Tuesday, that would leave Monday for the Futures Game.
It would do something else, as well. It would allow pitchers who pitch on Sunday to participate in the All-Star Game instead of forcing managers to replace those pitchers. Just a thought.
A FEW STATISTICS: The last five All-Star Games have produced 40 runs, 23 of which have scored on home runs. There have been 83 hits (a .234 average) and 108 strike outs…Cesar Hernandez (Phillies), Freddy Galvis (Padres), Trea Turner (Nationals), Nick Markakis (Braves), Matt Olson (Athletics), Jose Altuve (Astros) and Mike Trout (Angels) are the only players who have appeared in every one of their teams’ games. Galvis and Markakis are the only ones to have started every game…Luis Severino is 14-2 with an earned run average of 2.31. The other Yankees starters combined have posted a 26-18 record with a 4.55 ERA…Every team in the majors has had at least one three-game winning streak and at least one three-game losing streak…The National League has a 102-85 edge in interleague play…Justin Verlander of the Astros and Jhoulys Chacin of the Brewers are the only pitchers to have made 21 starts…The Orioles have hit the All-Star break trailing the Red Sox by 39½ games. Last year no team was more than 40 games behind at season’s end…The Indians are 31-19 at home but 21-24 on the road…One reason the Cardinals changed managers is the team has made 77 errors and allowed 39 unearned runs.
Hall of Fame voter Jay Dunn has written baseball for The Trentonian for 50 years, Contact him at jaydunn8@aol.com