The Los Angeles Dodgers as soon as once more proved they’re keen to spend no matter it takes to get again to the World Sequence over the offseason, signing free agent nearer Edwin Diaz to a three-year, $69 million contract — setting an MLB document for the costliest contract supplied to a reduction pitcher.
Diaz, who held a 3.0 wins above substitute ranking final season with a 1.63 ERA, immediately supplies a lift to the Dodgers’ weakest group of gamers. With a dependable nearer secured, the oft-maligned Dodger bullpen ought to see important enchancment over final season, when it ranked within the backside third of Main League Baseball in group bullpen ERA.
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Diaz’s signing got here as a little bit of a shock, because the information got here simply days after Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts downplayed the group’s plans on taking any huge swings throughout free company.
Their determination to signal Diaz marked the second straight season that the Dodgers paid a reliever prime greenback, because the group introduced in Tanner Scott on a four-year, $72 million deal. Scott largely upset in 2025, however with Diaz set to take over the function of nearer, the Dodgers have optimism that the 31-year-old will bounce again in 2026.
Simply as many Dodgers followers celebrated Diaz’s signing, the Dodgers entrance workplace was equally as excited, blaring Diaz’s iconic stroll up music, “Narco” by Timmy Trumpet, whereas staying at a resort in Orlando for the MLB Winter Conferences.
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“It’s humorous, the evening into Tuesday morning, as we’re getting nearer to ending [signing Diaz], in our suite we have been pulling up on YouTube the completely different intro and getting all fired up,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman informed SportsNet LA. “A lot so, that resort safety got here and so they have been like, ‘We bought a noise grievance.’ I’m like, I promise you, ‘It is a very lame group. We’re really watching an entrance walkout.’
“So he was like, ‘OK, no downside,’ and left. But it surely was enjoyable to undergo it, and I can not await the primary one at Dodger Stadium and simply how electrical will probably be.”
Friedman might be low on the checklist of members of the Dodgers you would possibly count on to obtain a noise grievance at a resort, however his pleasure for Diaz’s walkout is warranted — and comes from expertise. Friedman informed SportsNet LA that he watched Diaz’s walkout when Timmy Trumpet carried out the music dwell in 2022.
“It’s electrical. I used to be at Citi when Timmy Trumpets got here and carried out it dwell, the place the evening earlier than, he was there however didn’t have a save alternative in order that they bought him to come back again the following day,” Friedman stated.
Friedman and Dodgers followers throughout the nation should wait a bit longer for Diaz to lastly take the diamond, because the Dodgers’ season formally begins March 26, once they host the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.
Photograph Credit score: Tim Vizer-Imagn Photographs
