Edwin Díaz is coming back. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters Saturday the team plans to activate the right-handed closer on Wednesday, according to AM 570’s David Vassegh, with utility man Kiké Hernández expected to return a day earlier on Tuesday.
Díaz has been out since April, when loose bodies in his right elbow forced him to the injured list after just seven appearances. He underwent surgery to remove the debris and was transferred to the 60-day IL shortly after. The timing was brutal for the Dodgers, who had signed Díaz to a three-year, $69 million contract in free agency last winter — a deal that made him the highest-paid reliever in baseball.
The early returns were ugly. Díaz posted a 10.50 ERA across six innings, allowing seven earned runs and four saves worth of shaky ninth innings. His control, never a strength even at his peak, abandoned him entirely. The Dodgers shelved him and moved on.
In his absence, Tanner Scott took over the closer’s role and ran with it. That is the kind of roster churn that makes you want to check the math twice: the Dodgers signed Díaz last winter in part because Scott struggled so badly in his own first season on a four-year, $72 million deal. One year later, Scott is the reliable option and Díaz is the one trying to prove he still belongs in the ninth. The bullpen as a whole ranks seventh in MLB with a 3.77 ERA, so the Dodgers have hardly been bleeding runs — but adding a healthy Díaz to a group that already includes Scott and Kirby Yates would give Roberts the kind of late-inning depth that wins in October.
Díaz’s rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City has been encouraging. He has struck out 10 batters over six innings, and Roberts indicated the right-hander is scheduled for one final appearance Sunday before the team determines his readiness. Katie Woo of The Athletic reported the updates after speaking with Roberts, who said both Díaz and Hernández are progressing through the final stages of their rehab.
The Dodgers enter their upcoming homestand at 65-38, holding an 11.5-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West. They hardly need to rush, but the Aug. 3 trade deadline looms, and getting Díaz back before then functions as a midseason acquisition that costs nothing but a roster spot.
Hernández is returning from a left oblique strain that interrupted his season shortly after he came back from offseason elbow surgery. Roberts praised the veteran’s recovery as faster than expected.
Díaz is not the only reinforcement on the way. Starting pitchers Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, reliever Blake Treinen, and catcher Will Smith are all working toward returns, giving the Dodgers a wave of talent that most rosters cannot match even when fully healthy. For a team already on pace for 100-plus wins, the second half is less about reaching the postseason and more about arriving there with the right pieces in the right roles.
Díaz’s career numbers — a 2.82 ERA, 839 strikeouts in 519⅓ innings, 253 saves — are the reason the Dodgers paid him like an elite closer. The next several weeks will determine whether those numbers still mean something, or whether the elbow surgery and the early-season implosion were the beginning of a different story.
Sources
- Yahoo Sports — Dodgers to activate closer Edwin Díaz from IL on Wednesday
- Yahoo Sports/Athlon — Dodgers Set to Activate Edwin Díaz and Kiké Hernández
- ClutchPoints — Dodgers roster moves and Díaz’s 60-day IL transfer
- MLB.com — Edwin Díaz introduced by Dodgers