New York Mets (+25)
Looking strictly at major-league deals, new general manager Brodie Van Wagenen did his best to completely reshape this area of the Mets’ roster with proven talent. Bringing back Jeurys Familia to pitch the eighth inning and Justin Wilson to be one of manager Mickey Callaway‘s lefties was helpful. However, the biggest boost comes from acquiring closer Edwin Diaz from the Seattle Mariners.
He brings an ability to strike hitters out that New York hasn’t had in quite some time. Although the right-hander has been a consistently solid performer, this past year was the true breakout, as his 3.5 fWAR was higher than his combined total from the previous two years (2.9). Diaz was among the best relievers in baseball in almost every major category, but it was interesting to see that he did it while cutting his fastball usage down by six full percentage points.
That difference went to his slider, which he tossed at a 37.3% clip in 2018. This offering has always been elite, but it produced a ridiculous 56.4% strikeout rate and 3.8% walk rate to go along with a 21 wRC+ this past year.
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