It is hard to keep track of the number of free-agent signings and trades made by the Dodgers that have allegedly broken baseball. When Tarik Skubal lands in the dugout at the trade deadline and starts the freakout all over again, it's easy to move on from the last set of acquisitions that was raising qualms and inviting guffaws. But let the record show, before it's too late, that Edwin Diaz was at one point one of those baseball-breaking signings.
The Dodgers signed Diaz this past offseason to a three-year, $69 million deal. Diaz was the best reliever on the market, coming off a season with the Mets in which he saved 28 games and posted a 1.63 ERA. The signing was a source of anguish for parity-obsessed baseball fans not necessarily because of the size of the contract, but because of how indulgent it felt from the Dodgers' perspective. The Dodgers front office would have certainly argued that their bullpen needed reinforcement, but throwing $69 million at Diaz felt a little like watching a kid whose bike tire went flat solve the problem by buying 12 more bikes.
As it turns out, any fretting about how Diaz's arrival in Los Angeles would put the Dodgers even further out of reach was a big waste of time. Diaz experienced some struggles through his first seven appearances of the season, and then had surgery to remove loose bodies from his throwing elbow. That procedure kept him out for three months, and ever since returning at the end of July he has been pure, unmitigated ass.
Diaz was handed the ball in the ninth inning against the Brewers last night, and was tasked with protecting a 4-2 lead. He struck out the first batter he faced, and then gave up four straight singles that tied the game. He was pulled after another strikeout, and then Alex Vesia allowed one of his inherited runners to score. The Dodgers lost, 5-4, and have now lost nine of their last 13 games.
Diaz has played a big role in all that losing. He has allowed at least one run in five of his seven appearances since returning from the IL, and he has blown a save in three of his last four appearances. He appears to be all fucked up. His average fastball velocity is a tick lower than it was last season, and he's dumping it over the middle of the plate far too often. And his slider, which in 2025 was one of the toughest pitches in the league to make good contact on, is getting slapped all over the park. According to Statcast, Diaz has thrown 150 fastballs and 113 sliders this year, and hitters are slugging .714 and .571 against them, respectively.
A small sample size, I suppose, but a closer makes his living in the small sample sizes. For his part, Diaz is well aware that something is not right. "I was throwing my fastball right in the middle," he said after Thursday's game. "When you miss in the middle, you pay."
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts seems, for now, to be sticking with Diaz as his closer. When asked after the game if he was considering other options in high-leverage situations, he responded rhetorically: "Give me another option." His testiness is not unearned: Since the beginning of July the Dodgers have a 4.71 bullpen ERA.
The question is whether any of this will end up mattering. As has been pointed out many times before, the advantage brought to the Dodgers by their financial might is not just access to the most expensive players on the market, but their ability to absorb bad contracts and move on. They are blackjack players with an unlimited stack, and Diaz is far from the first hand to go bust. The Dodgers' entire pitching staff is more or less made up of guys who have failed to live up to their contracts, but bad money eventually gives way to good money if you spend enough of it.
So yeah, the Dodgers have an expensive, 32-year-old closer who can't get anyone out (and still has that whole cockfighting thing hanging over his head), and they have been playing like shit for two weeks. They still have 73 wins and are eight games up in the division. Edwin Diaz might not even be on the roster in October, and they might be raising the World Series trophy anyway.
