LOS ANGELES — The sounds of the trumpets synonymous with Edwin Díaz are meant to signal that one of baseball’s best closers is entering the game.
Lately, however, they’ve felt more like an SOS call.
With their already short seven-man bullpen even thinner Friday night, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was left with little choice but to turn to his struggling closer to protect a two-run lead in the ninth. In normal circumstances, no one would have blinked an eye. This is precisely the situation the Dodgers had in mind when they dished out $69 million over the winter to bring Díaz to Los Angeles, shoring up a rare roster need.
But after blowing three saves in the last week — including one Thursday night that resulted in him being booed on the field — and seeing his ERA balloon to double digits, there is little trust in seeing Díaz jog to the mound in any leverage situation. Still, Dodgers fans watched the top of the ninth with bated breath, hoping he could close out a pivotal victory over the National League-leading Milwaukee Brewers.
Three baserunners, two walks and one hit batter later, Díaz did indeed lock down the 3-1 win. Nothing about it felt comfortable.
“It wasn’t pretty. I watched the inning too,” Roberts said postgame. “But he found a way to make a pitch when he needed to.”
Díaz’s woes since returning from early-season elbow surgery have been well documented. His command is wild, and his pitch shapes are off. The Dodgers believe at least some of that can be attributed to a significant drop in his arm angle, which is down four degrees (from 19 to 15) since last year. They are less concerned about making mechanical changes, but asking a high-leverage reliever to tweak anything naturally invites heavier scrutiny due to the situations they appear in. A hitter has roughly four chances a game to make a swing change, and one mistake usually won’t impact the final score of the game. If a closer doesn’t execute, his team loses.
It doesn’t help that Díaz’s struggles come at a time when the bullpen overall is faltering. Since being swept at home by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the series before the All-Star break, Dodgers relievers have combined for a 4.90 ERA — the fifth-worst in MLB in that span — allowing 63 runs (55 earned) on 87 hits over 101 innings. They’ve converted just eight of their 15 save opportunities in that period; their seven blown saves are tied for the second-most in baseball, and their collective 4.90 ERA is the fifth-worst in MLB.
Still, the Dodgers did nothing to address their bullpen at the trade deadline, believing most of their problems outside of Díaz will be solved over the next few weeks.
The Dodgers are settling for a seven-man bullpen so they can continue to use the six-man rotation that’s anchored their staff all year. The need for an extra starter each week did not dissipate when Shohei Ohtani was shut down from pitching. Los Angeles still needs to keep six starters to protect the usage of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Blake Snell. Losing the advantage of the Ohtani rule, which exempts qualifying two-way players from active roster limits, thus allowing the Dodgers to carry an extra pitcher, has taken a toll on the relief corps.
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That is due to a combination of health, schedule and performance. Right-handers Blake Treinen, Brock Stewart and Will Klein are on the injured list. The Dodgers are in the midst of 13 games without a day off, making ample recovery time for relievers difficult. The types of games being played also matter. Since starting that stretch Aug. 7 vs. Arizona, each game has been decided by two runs or fewer. With low-leverage opportunities scarce, Roberts has heavily relied on lefties set-up men Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia and Jack Dreyer, and has pitched right-hander Edgardo Henriquez more than he has preferred.
Roberts drew some ire from fans and media pundits after Thursday’s ugly loss, when he said he did not have options other than Díaz to take over the closing role. Scott leads the team with 16 saves. Vesia and Dreyer have been two of the team’s most consistent relievers. But there is much more to factor in than stats and current performance. A short bullpen combined with an overreliance on high-leverage arms has limited the choices.
Roberts isn’t just managing for the current game. He’s looking at past usage, previous pitch counts and upcoming matchups to make sure he can get through the series. That means avoiding up-downs or multi-inning stints for Vesia, Dreyer and Scott to give them the best shot at being available for the following game, or making sure Evan Phillips, who is battling rust in his early return from Tommy John surgery, only enters for a clean inning.
“A lot of people don’t have the information on availability, workload and redlining guys and trying to keep guys healthy,” Roberts said. “I don’t have everyone available every single night.
“Tanner’s workload’s been high, and so I’m trying to be mindful of that with the up-downs,” he continued. “Evan’s coming off Tommy John, so I’m trying to be mindful of that. I essentially pitch Alex every other day, and you know he’s not an up-down guy, hasn’t been for a couple years. So you start eliminating. … When you peel that layer back, then your options get a little bit smaller, and then you’re talking about lanes and what’s the best for a particular pitcher. Those things all matter.”
The good news for Roberts, pitching coach Mark Prior and the Dodgers is that many of these problems will solve themselves. Following a short three-game road trip to Colorado, the Dodgers have three scheduled days off over the next 12. Tyler Glasnow should make one more rehab start next week before being activated off the IL around the final week of August. That would slot one of the current starters, either Eric Lauer or Justin Wrobleski, into the bullpen. Most importantly, Ohtani threw his first bullpen in over three weeks Friday, and the Dodgers still believe he’ll return to the mound during the regular season.
That is still a considerable ways away — he’ll throw at least one more bullpen before progressing to multiple live hitter sessions. But the Dodgers can stretch him out one inning at a time in the majors, similar to what they did last year when Ohtani was coming back from elbow surgery. That would restore his status as a two-way player, allowing Los Angeles to resume carrying an extra pitcher. Either way, active rosters expand on Sept. 1, which would give the Dodgers a bonus arm regardless.
That leaves Díaz as the biggest mystery, but the Dodgers have a “break glass in case of emergency” option there as well. They’ll continue giving Díaz the runway to right his ship, but Sasaki remains a viable option to close games, as he did in last year’s postseason. That’s an option the Dodgers will weigh more seriously come September.
Right now, the focus remains on fixing Díaz. Until the calendar passes, that’s the only solution Roberts has.
“At the end of the day, to a lot of the questions that you guys are asking, the players got to do their jobs,” Roberts said. “You can only protect them, put them in the best spots, but they have to perform. And I understand that too.”
