The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Edwin Díaz during the offseason with the intent that he would lock down the ninth inning and stabilize a bullpen that struggled in 2025.
However, Díaz has done the opposite of providing that security and he’s missed most of the season after undergoing surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow. Entering Friday, Díaz held an 11.57 ERA and had blown three of his last four save opportunities.
Despite that, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts continued to stick with the right-hander as his closer.
With a two-run lead in the ninth against the Brewers on Friday, Roberts went back to Díaz, even though he blew the same opportunity the day before.
It looked like the same results would follow. Díaz hit the first batter he faced, then issued a one-out walk. He nearly gave up a run on a ground ball, but Tommy Edman made a fantastic play to record the second out, and then Díaz walked another batter to load the bases.
But instead of letting the tying runs come in, Díaz induced a groundout to shortstop to record the save and end the game.
“It was a tough one, but at the end of the day I made my pitches, got the three outs, got the W,” Díaz said. “That’s the most important thing at the end of the day. I think I made better adjustments today. For me personally, I prefer to miss glove side than miss right in the middle, like I was missing yesterday.
“So I think I’m going in a good direction right now.”
The Dodgers are going to need Díaz to turn things around this year, and that’s part of the reason why Roberts has continued to stick with him. The skipper also felt it was key for Díaz to work through a jam and see positive results.
“Yeah, it was important,” Roberts said. “I think kind of where we’re at with the ‘pen, I felt good about his workload. Obviously, given how things have gone, certainly how [Thursday] night went, to get him back in there, hopefully to throw up a zero and come away with a save. It was good for him to work his way out of it.
“He was a hitter away, and even with that last hitter, I wanted to see him try to fight through it and get through it. So I was happy that he finished what he started.”
Díaz acknowledged the outing acted as a confidence builder and wants to keep building on that. “Now I have to keep getting good outings together,” he said. “I’ve been having one good one, one bad one. So today is a new start. I’ve got to set my mind to keep having good outings.”
Roberts also believes Díaz can now use that to build on, but said the closer will get a few days off to work with the Dodgers coaching staff to continue finding ways to improve.
“I think it can certainly be a positive,” Roberts said. “Kind of the short-term, he’s going to be down for a couple days, and the strength department, the pitching side of things, we kind of detected some things to get cleaned up. So that’s encouraging.
“Started that process today, so hopefully with a couple days off to work through that, we’ll see a better version going forward.”
Edwin Díaz working through adjustments
Diaz said one adjustment he made was with his posture. “I think I’m leaning too much to the right-handed hitter instead of going straight to home plate,” he began.
“I think today was way better. I think I was rushing myself a little bit, but when it counted I made my pitches and got the job done, so I’m really happy.”
He also had some issues with his arm angle being too low, which he was trying to work through, and that is related to his posture issues. It has also affected his command and the movement of his pitches.
“It’s got to be,” Diaz said about his posture affecting his fastball and slider. “I was watching video from last year with the pitching coaches, and both pitches were really good. So I’m looking to get my ride back. My slider shape today was good. I think I was missing down, and that’s what I want with my slider. But my fastball was really good today, so like I said, I’m going in a good direction.”
Diaz has had these issues before while with the New York Mets, so they aren’t new to him. “It was difficult for me to fix it, but now I’m more mature and know what I have to do,” he said.
“I’m working through that. The thing is, they gave me the game tonight, so I’ve got to do both things: work on things and at the end of the day do my job. Today I did a little bit of both, but we got the results, so I’m happy.”
Giving Diaz a few days to continue working on things should be beneficial, given how difficult it is to make adjustments while competing in a game. Díaz did not use that as an excuse and said that’s why players get to the field early, but Roberts acknowledged the challenge.
“Yeah, it’s tough,” Roberts said. “You’ve got to be able to separate what you did before the game, what people have identified, to then once you’re in there competing, to go out there and just compete. Kind of expect the best and that’s about it. That’s tough to do.
“I think you hear a lot of players talk about mechanics and things like that, that’s where things, I feel, get sideways. But it wasn’t pretty. I watched the inning too, but he found a way to make a pitch when he needed to.”
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