The Los Angeles Dodgers have the national media's attention once again after signing All-Star closer Edwin Díaz.
The Los Angeles Dodgers made headlines at the Winter Meetings by signing All-Star closer Edwin Díaz to a three-year, $69 million contract.
The addition of Díaz addresses a bullpen deficit for the Dodgers, specifically late-inning relief. With arguably the best closer in baseball now in a Dodgers uniform, former three-time All-Star Dan Plesac applauds what Los Angeles is doing.
“There’s not a lot you can say about the Dodgers you can say that’s negative,” Plesac said on MLB Network. “But the one thing I thought holding them back from being a totally dominant team was someone who could secure the ninth inning. They found that guy.”
Los Angeles attempted to address its bullpen deficiencies by adding Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates last offseason, but both posted mixed results in the regular season and did not pitch in the postseason.
“You know, it’s funny,” Plesac said. “You look at ‘24, you look at ‘25 and you start to look toward the ‘26 projection of baseball, particularly out west, and it’s hard not to like what the Dodgers are, and now they’re even better.”
“They were able to navigate through all that stormy water with that starting pitching. They used a lot of the starters in the World Series [in] late innings. Now, they’ve got their guy in Díaz, arguably one of the top or maybe the best closer in all of baseball.”
Díaz has been showered with accolades during the first decade of his career. He has garnered three All-Star selections, two Trevor Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year awards and a Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year award.
Last season, he made 62 appearances and logged a 1.63 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP while striking out 98 batters.
“So, the rich get richer, and the good team just got really good again, on the verge of being great,” Plesac added. “I just think they’re almost a slam dunk to get to the World Series again.”
While the Dodgers have been heavily criticized for their spending habits and have become one of the main examples in the arguments of advocates for Major League Baseball to implement a salary cap, Plesac is not quick to judge them for the formula they employ.
“You have to give the Dodgers a lot of credit because they have a big bullseye and a big target on their back. And if things didn’t work out in the World Series in their favor, there would have been a lot of people in the industry poking holes at the way the Dodgers thought about going about the season.”