Edwin Díaz said he understands the decision of the Dodgers to use him in lower-stake situations rather than immediately relying on him as a closer. The rationale is that strategy will help him rediscover his confidence.
“I know I haven’t done my job,” said Díaz, speaking to reporters at his locker before Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. “If I had done my job, I would be in the ninth inning.”
He praised Tanner Scott, who has thrived in that role.
“He’s doing a great job,” Díaz said. “I’m really happy for him.”
Díaz, the team’s biggest offseason acquisition, had elbow surgery early in the season and was out from April to late July. His return wasn’t triumphant, as he had three blown saves and two more shaky outings in non-save situations.
Díaz said he underwent an MRI scan on his neck and nothing unusual was revealed. He’s working with coaches on making a small adjustment to his delivery.
“They showed me a couple videos from last year — my arm slot’s always a little low,” he said. “We’re working now to get it higher and more consistent in that position.”
The goal, naturally, is to make good on the expectations the Dodgers had for him when they signed him to a three-year, $69-million deal.
“That’s why they signed me here,” he said. “To be the closer.”
I can’t help but recognize the irony that Edwin Díaz is on the IL with neck inflammation. It was very likely caused by the whiplash he’s endured by tracking all of those line drives whizzing past his ear.
Ron Yukelson San Luis Obispo
Regardless of whether Edwin Díaz ever excels again in his closer role, I wonder if anyone else feels like I do about the trumpets and light show hoopla announcing his entrance from the bullpen? I think not only does it add fuel to an already fired-up visiting team, it also is a slap in the face of the other Dodger relievers, who by the way, all currently have performed far better.
Gary Sohl Fountain Valley
Edwin Díaz is auditioning for a spot on the postseason roster and the audition is not going well.
Richard Sherman Margate, Fla.
Kyle Tucker’s sub-.240 batting average and the oft-injured Edwin Díaz cost the Dodgers $83 million this year — more than the entire payrolls of the Marlins and Guardians. No wonder so many fans believe the Dodgers are ruining MLB.
Barry P. Resnick Orange
If Dodgers’ ownership is found to have circumvented the rules, there should be serious consequences. Voiding the fat contracts of Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz — and making them immediate free agents — would send a strong message from the commissioner’s office that such conduct will not be tolerated.
Bill Plaschke should have consulted with his colleague Laurence Darmiento before writing his ill-informed column on the sale of the Lakers. Had he done so he would’ve realized that Joshua Kushner, who is co-buying the Lakers, is a lifelong Democrat, and therefore President Trump‘s showing up for a Lakers’ tip-off as suggested by Plaschke is off the table.
Jack Wishard Los Angeles
In 2025, when Mark Walter acquired his majority stake in the Lakers, he said, “It’s a privilege to work alongside Jeanie Buss as we maintain that excellence and set the standard for success in this new era, both on and off the court.”
That era concluded quickly, undone by his hubris and deceit. Did he mean to say “error” both on and off the court? That he did quite well.
David Griffin Westwood
Like in real estate, the Lakers were flipped by Dodgers majority owner Mark Walter after only 10 months of ownership. One person took a “flip in his grave,” previous owner Jerry Buss, who died in 2013. The Lakers as an organization have never been the same since his passing.
Wayne Muramatsu Cerritos
Former Disney head honcho Bob Iger, et al., owning the Lakers? Can’t wait to see Goofy and Mr. Toad as ushers at the Crypt!
Jack Wolf Westwood
Lakers previous owner Mark Walter is under federal investigation for possible loan fraud, and new Lakers owner Joshua Kushner’s company, Thrive Eternal, participated in the recent FIFA private equity scandal. Why can’t NBA owners avoid financial shenanigans? Thank God for Clippers owner Steve Ballmer. … Oh, wait.
Put away the trumpets. Pack them up, put them in the attic, let them collect some dust.
Nobody wants to hear them.
Nobody wants to be subjected to one more triggering, off-key note of an Edwin Díaz dirge. Not anytime soon, not in any high-leverage moments for the foreseeable future.
Not after another Díaz disaster class. This time, after he trotted in to Timmy Trumpet’s “Narco” as usual, he gave up four consecutive hits and coughed up a two-run lead before getting yanked in a 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers at Dodger Stadium. It spoiled Max Muncy’s pinch-hit home run in the sixth inning that staked Díaz to a 4-2 lead.
Díaz was the high-profile free agent the Dodgers signed to lock down the ninth inning for the next three seasons, inking him to a $69-million deal to do it, a record for relievers.
He has an ERA of 11.57 for the season. And in the 5⅔ innings since returning from a procedure to remove “loose bodies” in his right elbow, he has given up 12 hits and three walks. On Thursday, he left everybody in the stands rooting for the Dodgers up in arms, booing.
Those folks might still be booing when they hear what Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said saltily postgame: “Give me another option … I can’t just say change him to low-leverage. I have to have options.”
So plan a search party, do it by committee.
Or give the ball back to Tanner Scott. He isn’t perfect, but has 16 saves and was serviceable filling in for Díaz before he was activated off the injured list on July 29.
Just don’t give the ball to Díaz.
Not while the 32-year-old right-hander is flailing. Not while he’s flustered and frustrated — which you can’t spell without rust, though even Roberts admitted, “I don’t know how long you can use the rust thing, which I’ve certainly used.”
Go with anyone but Díaz, who has been the biggest disappointment of this Dodgers’ trek toward what they hope is a three-peat.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, center, pulls closer Edwin Díaz from the game in the ninth inning Thursday against Milwaukee.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
He’s not the only disappointment: Mookie Betts is hitting worse than ever before in his career while another newcomer, $240-million man Kyle Tucker, is hitting just .239 with 11 home runs. Fittingly, he flew out for the final out and went 0 for 4 on Thursday.
But Díaz was heralded as the best reliever on the free-agent market when the Dodgers signed him.
Instead, he’s making a run at Worst Reliever in the Game.
His slider hasn’t been sliding. He’s been consistently inconsistent. His location has been spotty — or right down the middle, and as he showed and told Thursday: “I was throwing my fastball right in the middle. When you miss in the middle, you pay.”
And, like Roberts, Díaz doesn’t know the answer, just that “I just gotta sit down with the pitching coaches to see what I’m missing and what they say to see if we can fix it and keep working hard.”
In a short-sleeved T-shirt and shorts, he stood with his hands on his hips and faced the music — and the facts, saying he’s ready to relinquish his closer role if Roberts wants to try another option.
“I just gotta see what they wanna do,” Díaz said. “I wanna do the best thing for the team. At the end of the day, if they give me the ball in the ninth I will try to do my job. If they give me the ball in another inning, I will try to do my job.”
Roberts would prefer he do the job for which he’s being paid so richly: “Everyone’s got a role, they all have jobs to do, and they all have to do their job. That’s it.”
But Díaz hasn’t been up to the job. He had a 10.50 ERA in seven shaky appearances before he went on the IL on April 20.
It can seem like the Dodgers print money with all their high-priced players, but they might as well be lighting it on fire with the relievers they’ve brought in.
For them, the concept of the high-priced reliever should be an oxymoron. Because being fooled once is a shame; being fooled twice — that’s moronic.
In 2025, they signed Scott — then considered perhaps the best relief pitcher on the free-agent market — to a four-year, $72-million contract.
And he blew his opportunities like a trumpet too, ending last season with a 4.74 ERA (second-worst of his career) and 1.263 WHIP with 60 strikeouts through 57 innings. He didn’t pitch for the Dodgers in the playoffs.
Now they’ve got the Díaz debacle to deal with before the postseason, when it looks like the Dodgers, if they don’t have their big-name closer to rely on, will again be forced to find other options.
“I’ve been doing that before because, like the story said, that’s legal in Puerto Rico,” Díaz said.
USA Today published a story in May highlighting social media posts advertising cockfighting tournaments that picture Díaz in his Dodgers uniform. The story also referenced a story in El Nuevo Día, the largest circulating newspaper in Puerto Rico, quoting Díaz.
No one from Major League Baseball has reached out to Díaz about a possible suspension, he said.
“They didn’t reach out to me because I wasn’t doing anything illegal,” Díaz said.
In 2019, a federal law banning cockfighting took effect in Puerto Rico. Before the law, the blood sport had been made illegal in all 50 states, but not U.S. territories. Many Puerto Ricans saw the ban as an attack on their culture and vowed to defy the law.
Puerto Rico responded by passing a law saying that it’s legal to host cockfights as long as people don’t export or import the animals or any goods or services related to cockfighting. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2021 declined to hear a challenge to the federal law brought by a group that argued Congress exceeded its power by applying the ban to Puerto Rico.
Anyone found guilty of taking part in cockfighting faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Spectators could receive a one-year prison sentence.
Still, some Puerto Ricans such as Díaz view the topic as part of the island’s history, initially brought to the Caribbean by 16th-century Spaniards when the island was first colonized.
“It’s a pastime I’ve followed since I was a child,” Díaz told El Nuevo Día in March. “It’s legal in Puerto Rico, thank God. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.”
Diaz is on track to return to the Dodgers after the All-Star break, although his exact return date remains unclear. His fastball felt good, so locating his slider was the next step toward his return.
Times staff writer Hannah Fry contributed to this report.
