Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Edwin Diaz won’t be the team’s closer when he finally returns from his latest injured list stint. Nope, that job, the one he was signed for, is gone, at least for now. This ain’t Roberts being nice either; Diaz has got to earn his way back into that high-stakes ninth-inning role.
The Numbers Are Getting Hard to Ignore
Remember that elbow surgery early in the season? The one that kept him out from April all the way until late July, after doctors took out those loose bodies from his right arm? Well, his return was far from triumphant. August has been an absolute nightmare for Diaz, and it’s been tough to watch. We’re talking a brutal 15.88 ERA. Yes, you read that right. He’s blown three saves and had two other outings in non-save situations that were just plain rough, really hurting the team.
His command has been totally off, and the biggest problem is his pitches just aren’t moving like they used to. That means no missed bats, barrels hitting everything, and bases constantly jammed with traffic. It all boiled over during a brutal game against the Rockies, where he was sent in to close out an 11-2 game,a confidence builder, right? Wrong. He coughed up three runs before he could even get three outs. After that absolute mess, he reported neck pain, which landed him on the IL for neck inflammation, and he’ll be out for more than a week. What a run of bad luck and worse performance.
Roberts’ Hard Truth and a Three-Peat Push
So, what’s a guy like Diaz going to do? Manager Dave Roberts is making it crystal clear: no more ninth-inning heroics right out of the gate. Roberts is planning to ease him back into “lower-leverage spots” to get his confidence back and rebuild trust in executing pitches. “I think it’s more about getting him back healthy and then putting him in some softer landing situations to get the confidence, to get the feel and the trust of executing pitches, getting major league hitters out, and then at that point in time we’ll go from there,” Roberts said, pretty bluntly.
It’s a huge shift, especially since Roberts has been pretty stubborn about keeping Diaz as the closer in the past, no matter what. But with Tanner Scott emerging as a reliable arm and Diaz’s recent struggles making him unreliable, a team pushing for a three-peat can’t afford to just hope for the best. They need to see results before they believe. Diaz, for his part, says he’s pushing to get back to where he thinks he belongs, but he’s also expressed a willingness to do what the team needs. Smart move, because right now, the Dodgers need him to get his stuff back, and fast, before they hand him the ball with the game on the line.
With Diaz sidelined again for neck inflammation and a massive mountain to climb to regain Roberts’ trust, the stakes couldn’t be higher for him. The Dodgers are battling hard for that three-peat, and they need reliable arms, not question marks. It’s on Diaz to prove he’s still that lights-out closer everyone knows he can be, but he’s got to do it step-by-step, starting from the bottom of the bullpen heap. We’ll be watching to see if he can turn things around.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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