Could Díaz return this year? Should he?

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

As Edwin Díaz continues to inch closer to a return from March knee surgery, the question on everyone’s mind seems to be: “Why?”

The answer, per pitching coach Jeremy Hefner: “Why not?”

It’s important to note that the Mets won’t, under any circumstances, pitch Díaz this season unless he is completely healthy. Every discussion team officials have had regarding Díaz’s short-term future hinges upon the idea of him returning to full health at some point in September. The closer’s status, at that point, would be no different than that of Kodai Senga, José Quintana, Adam Ottavino, Brooks Raley or any other pitcher the Mets expect to play a major role for them in 2024.

If Díaz never reaches that benchmark, the Mets will refrain from using him. Full stop.

Many believe the Mets should place Díaz in bubble wrap regardless, considering the team’s placement in the standings. But that line of thinking ignores the fact that Díaz is a human being who just went through a major surgery and six monotonous months of rehab. He loves to pitch. He wants to pitch. If Díaz is healthy enough to do so without assuming any sort of abnormal risk, Mets officials feel inclined to grant him that wish.

“I want to finish the season on a positive note,” Díaz said late last month. “I want to try to come back and help this team to win this year.”

Of course, no one is forcing the Mets to give in to Díaz’s desires. This team isn’t making the playoffs. The Mets owe their closer $102 million over five seasons regardless of whether he throws a pitch this month. Moreover, the very act of pitching -- “putting your arm over your head and jerking it down violently,” as manager Buck Showalter likes to describe it -- is inherently risky; that would be true even if Díaz hadn’t torn the patellar tendon in his right knee while celebrating a World Baseball Classic victory back in March.

For all those reasons, Showalter doesn’t “feel strongly” about Díaz returning.

“There’s pros and cons to it,” the manager said. “We’re going to do physically what’s best for him. Regardless of what it might mean to him, if it’s not in their best interest physically, it’s a really bad idea. So we’re going to lean on the medical aspect of it.”

When Díaz tore his tendon back in March, the diagnosis came with a recovery timeline of six to eight months. In looking at previous examples of big league pitchers who returned from patellar tears, including Zach Eflin and Garrett Richards, the Mets determined that Díaz would need to come back faster than all of them to pitch again this season. They never ruled out that option. They also never committed to it.

So why take the risk now? In a perfect world, the Mets would prefer to avoid having Díaz go 18 months between Major League games. They have a curiosity about his velocity and stuff coming off surgery. But more than anything, they want to reward their best reliever for a summer of hard work -- provided the risk of doing so is effectively zero.

For now, Díaz continues to throw bullpen sessions with an eye toward facing hitters soon. After that remains an open question that Mets officials aren’t scared to face.

“If he feels good about it, if the team feels good about it, if it’s what’s best for next year, that’s the answer,” Hefner said. “If it’s what’s best for next year, then we should do it.”