ORLANDO, Fla. — The Dodgers downplayed expectations, however as soon as once more, they’re making a giant offseason splash.
Free-agent reliever Edwin Díaz and the Dodgers have agreed to a three-year, $69 million deal, a supply informed MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Tuesday morning. The membership has not confirmed the deal.
Díaz opted out of the remaining two years and $38 million of his contract with the Mets to check free company, so his new settlement primarily provides an additional 12 months and $31 million assured. The Mets’ last supply was three years and $66 million with slight deferrals, a supply informed MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, and workforce officers made it recognized they’d room to enhance. Nonetheless, Díaz selected the Dodgers earlier than that occurred.
The No. 1 reliever available on the market, Díaz initially signed a five-year, $102 million cope with New York previous to the 2023 season, which set a report for a aid pitcher.
After this previous season, the Mets tendered a qualifying supply to Díaz that he declined. The QO, which might have paid him $22.025 million for 2026, hooked up Díaz to Draft compensation. As a workforce topic to the Aggressive Steadiness Tax, the Dodgers would lose their second- and fifth-highest alternatives within the 2026 Draft, along with $1 million from their worldwide bonus pool, ought to their cope with Díaz be accomplished. The Mets would obtain a compensation choose after the fourth spherical.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman couldn’t converse immediately concerning the deal earlier than it grew to become official, however he acknowledged that the Dodgers would lose one thing by signing a participant with a qualifying supply hooked up. To him, the potential positive factors outweigh the losses.
“I imply, it is an actual value, so attempt to bake it in and issue it into the choice,” Friedman mentioned Tuesday. “You by no means wish to be flippant about this, however now we have a extremely sturdy and deep farm system. And so it at the least helps mitigate it some, nevertheless it’s an actual value related.”
That is the second straight offseason through which the Dodgers have splurged on a reliever. In earlier years, the workforce had not sometimes spent massive on the bullpen, nevertheless it has modified course with the addition of Tanner Scott (4 years, $72 million) earlier than the 2025 season and Díaz forward of ’26.
Scott struggled in his first season in L.A., posting a 4.74 ERA and blowing 10 saves, which led the Majors. The Dodgers consider that the 31-year-old left-hander will bounce again from the down 12 months, however now they’ve one other high possibility to shut out video games, as Díaz figures to fit into the nearer’s function.
“I feel that getting a high-leverage reliever isn’t a foul factor,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned Monday.
Díaz, 31, has re-established himself as one among MLB’s elite closers since coming back from the torn patellar tendon in his proper knee — suffered throughout a celebration within the World Baseball Basic — that pressured him to overlook the complete 2023 season.
In 2025, Díaz notched 28 saves for the Mets with a 1.63 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings. He had the second-lowest ERA amongst relievers who threw at the least 50 innings (behind solely Aroldis Chapman’s 1.17). His 38% strikeout price ranked second (behind Mason Miller’s 44.4%), and his 13.3 Okay/9 ranked fifth.
Over his 9 massive league seasons with the Mariners and Mets, Díaz has turned in among the finest seasons ever by a reliever.
In 2018 with Seattle, Díaz recorded 57 saves, tied for the second-most all time in a single season behind solely Francisco Rodríguez’s MLB-record 62 in 2008. That prompted the Mets to swing a blockbuster commerce for Díaz (and Robinson Canó) within the offseason.
Díaz enters the 2026 season with 253 saves in his Main League profession, with a 2.82 ERA and 839 strikeouts in 519 1/3 innings. Solely three lively pitchers have extra saves: Kenley Jansen (476), Craig Kimbrel (440) and Aroldis Chapman (367).
The Dodgers had indicated that they won’t make as many notable strikes as they did in earlier offseasons. However they noticed an opportunity to enhance by including Díaz, they usually seized it.
“We’re not simply gonna signal a reliever to signal a reliever, understanding that completely different bullpen constructions will be profitable in several methods,” basic supervisor Brandon Gomes mentioned Monday. “And positively over the previous couple of years, we’ve executed it otherwise every year. So simply ensuring we’re including guys we really feel like are impression expertise.”
The Dodgers’ bullpen as a complete scuffled in 2025. It led the Majors with 657 2/3 innings, however mixed for a 4.27 ERA. The unit lacked stability on the again finish, which was particularly obvious when Roki Sasaki shifted to aid for the postseason and vastly improved the ‘pen.
Sasaki’s stint because the postseason nearer was at all times anticipated to be short-term, relatively than a long-term resolution. Now the Dodgers seem to have the steadiness they want in save conditions as they eye a 3rd straight championship.
The Dodgers’ willingness to primarily have two closers’ salaries on the payroll is a byproduct of their sturdy monetary place. Friedman has the sources he must form one other championship-caliber roster, and he is utilizing them as he sees match.
“In a world the place there are main constraints, that would not be an space the place I personally would allocate vs. different areas,” Friedman mentioned. “However we’re in a extremely lucky place proper now, and now we have a extremely proficient workforce going into 2026. We will do all the pieces we will to place ourselves in the most effective place to win a World Sequence.”
