Many factors help make the Dodgers into this seemingly all-consuming juggernaut we see before ourselves at the present time, and it goes beyond purely the financial advantages they have, which is not to say
we should dismiss them—having a lot more money than the majority of other teams is what allows the reigning back-to-back champs to sign the most expensive reliever on the market for two consecutive seasons. Following in the footsteps of Tanner Scott, who had more than his fair share of struggles last year, Edwin Díaz will seek out an opposite path for himself in his first year with the Dodgers.
Díaz is one of the greatest relievers of the 21st century, and the overwhelming odds are that he’ll play a huge role in a bounce-back season for the Dodgers’ bullpen. At the same time, as we’ve seen with Scott last season and some of the better Dodgers’ bullpens of recent years, building a top-of-the-line unit in that particular department is a delicate process. With Díaz, there is plenty to unpack in terms of specific aspects that paint his signing in a more positive or negative light.
After suffering a rather tragic injury in his right knee during the celebration of a humongous win for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, Díaz missed all of 2023. The fact that he’s multiple years removed from that and pitching at a high level since (2.48 ERA in 120 IP) definitely provides a great deal of comfort for the Dodgers. At the same time, for the amount of money they’ve committed, while there is no sure thing, the Dodgers are banking on as much of one as is possible.
Anyone who’s followed Diaz’s career closely will remember that the last time he switched teams in a high-profile move, things didn’t necessarily go according to plan. Díaz’s 2019 campaign, now way back in the rearview mirror, presented disastrous results following his trade from the Mariners to the Mets. There wasn’t one particular glaring issue to point to for why a top-10 Cy Young finisher put up a 5.59 ERA, but rather a variety of problems. If you remember, homers were a little more common back then, and Díaz struggled with them more than most relievers, allowing a 2.3 HR/9, well ahead of his career 0.9 mark. While the slider didn’t generate as much bite as it did in his best moments, striking out people wasn’t a problem (39.0% K rate in 2019).
Since then, Díaz has bounced back to parallel hilarious, dominant campaigns with your standard pretty good seasons. In three of the five full seasons he’s had since the start of 2020, Díaz has put up an ERA below 1.80, and in the other two, he’s put up one above 3.40. A lot of that is bad luck, considering his worst FIP since 2019 was a 3.02 mark last year.
After what happened with Tanner Scott, it’s reasonable that most fans would be a little cautious when it comes to breaking the bank for a reliever. It should be stressed that even though Díaz has dealt with his fair share of volatility and then some, these two pitchers are at different levels throughout their careers. Scott’s K% dropped to 25,2 percent in 2025, and even in his biggest struggles, that’s unimaginable for Díaz, who’s proven he delivers a higher floor across the board with the ceiling of best reliever in the sport.
With a deadly fastball-slider combo and having showcased his quality over a significant enough sample size since that injury, Díaz is poised for success with the Dodgers. This organization thrives in getting value out of places most people don’t see, but it also does well in recognizing outlier talents and paying them accordingly. This bullpen needed help, and instead of half-measures that’d also cost a pretty penny, they decided to swim at the deep end of the pool once again.
Projecting what to expect from Díaz, even in the hypothetical scenario of quote-unquote struggle, his first season with the Dodgers shouldn’t involve anything more than a low 3.00’s ERA with some slightly unfortunate HR or BABIP luck. While that’d definitely be frustrating considering the figures involved in his deal, long-term injuries are probably the only thing standing in the way of this signing being a success. Díaz will be dominant with the Dodgers; it’s just a question of how dominant.
