Mariners’ Servais has some swagger after getting Edwin Díaz’s haircut
Aug 28, 2018, 6:06 PM | Updated: 6:16 pm
SAN DIEGO – A deal is a deal, and on Tuesday before the Mariners game vs. the Padres, Scott Servais paid up.
The Mariners manager is now sporting the same haircut that his closer, Edwin Díaz, has worn this season. Fifty saves added up to a date with the clippers, and for Servais it was a small price to pay to have a part in his closer’s historic season.
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“I held up my end of the bargain,” Servais said in the vistor’s clubhouse while wearing a cap he had made that said “Electric Eddie’s Barber Shop” across the front and the No. 50 on the side.
While the cap covered up the handiwork, Díaz thought his manager should show off the new look.
“He looks good!” Díaz said with a smile. “I think he looks like the best swagger manager in the league right now.”
The finished product. 💇♂️
This photo belongs in a museum. pic.twitter.com/LYVoxUJqjl
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 28, 2018
The deal was made in early April when Servais, almost offhandedly, suggested to his young closer that if he were to get 50 saves this season, he would get a haircut that matched what Díaz calls “his lines” shaved into the sides. It was seemingly a safe bet. Fifty saves had been accomplished only 16 times in Major League history, no closer as young as Díaz had ever recorded that many, not to mention the fact that 50 would be a big jump from the 34 saves Díaz had last year.
“I say I take it. I don’t have anything to lose,” Díaz said Saturday on the field in Arizona after save No. 50. “That gave me something a little bit more to come into the game, every night and battle and battle, and now I have 50 saves.”
The 50th save wasn’t his cleanest of outings. With just a one-run lead, Díaz gave up back-to-back singles to start the ninth inning and saw a the tying run thrown out at home plate. He got his three outs, however, and as the team was going through its congratulatory high fives, he gave the game ball to his manager.
“That was the bet,” said Díaz. “I said to myself, ‘When you get to 50 saves, you give the ball to him.’ I save all of the balls from my saves but that one was a bet. He has to take something from me because I take the haircut from him. He gets the haircut, I give the ball to him.”
Díaz’s work is not done. The Major League record of 62 held by Francisco Rodriguez is within his reach. There is no word of any bets as of yet if he hits that mark, although fans will have the opportunity to get the Díaz cut if they purchase special tickets for the Sept. 3 game against the Orioles. Díaz, who was wearing the T-shirt that will be given away to the fans who buy the promotional tickets, is thrilled about the acknowledgment of the feat.
“It means a lot,” he said. “The people, like, the people support. It makes me happy. If I see people with the line I will feel happy because people have got my style.”
