Before free agency begins and all 30 teams could have taken a run at Edwin Diaz, the Mets agreed to bring back their closer on a five-year, $102 million deal. 

The deal includes a $12 million signing bonus, a sixth-year option and an opt-out after three years, plus a full no-trade clause through the opt-out year.

The contract is a record for a reliever, surpassing the five-year, $86 million deal Aroldis Chapman signed with the Yankees in 2016. The average annual value of $20.4 million also exceeds Liam Hendriks’ reliever record of $18 million, set in his 2021 deal with the White Sox.

Diaz is coming off arguably the most dominant season of any reliever, in which he recorded a 1.31 ERA and 118 strikeouts across 62 innings. He had 32 saves in 35 chances, with no blown saves over the final four months of the season.

Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge was voted player of the year and the American League outstanding player by fellow major leaguers in the annual Players Choice Awards from the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Judge set an AL record with 62 homers, breaking the previous mark of 61 set by New York’s Roger Maris in 1961.

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was voted National League outstanding player, the union said Friday.

Judge turned down a $213.5 million extension before the season started and was probably worth somewhere between that and $250 million at the time, then it became clear during the year that he was likely to clear $300 million, with estimates averaging roughly $320 million from a panel of experts polled in September.

The New York Jets gave up an 84-yard punt return to rookie Marcus Jones in the final seconds of a tie game to suffer a crushing 10-3 defeat to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. 

The punt return sent the Jets to their 14th straight loss to New England, the longest current streak in the NFL. The Jets came to Massachusetts with a chance to grab first place in the division. Instead, they left in last. 

The Jets are now 6-4, tied with the Patriots but New England owns the head-to-head tiebreaker after sweeping the Jets for the seventh  consecutive year. These are not the Same Old Patriots, but they still found a way to beat the upstart Jets.

The game came down to the special teams miscue, but the Jets’ offense takes the blame in this one. It looked inept all day. The Jets managed just 103 total yards, the fourth-lowest total in franchise history. They had six first downs, tied for the second-fewest in franchise history. 

Zach Wilson completed just 9-of-22 passes for 77 yards. The Jets were particularly awful in the second half. They did not cross the 50-yard line once in the half and had two total yards.