A ballooning ERA for Edwin Diaz and a devastating walk-off loss have manager Dave Roberts questioning his bullpen options as the reeling Los Angeles Dodgers struggle across the board.
It's hard to solely put the blame on Edwin Diaz for the Los Angeles Dodgers' latest loss, but they set him up for success, and he simply didn't have his best stuff on the mound.
Diaz hasn't been himself this season; it's as simple as that. This goes beyond his extended time away from pitching, as something just hasn't clicked.
Knowing this team gave him nearly $70 million, the Dodgers expect more out of Diaz. Manager Dave Roberts had a lot to say after the 4-3 loss, one that stung a bit extra knowing Diaz gave up a walk-off to Arizona Diamondbacks rookie Ryan Waldschmidt, someone who's only homered one other time in his career.
Regardless, the Dodgers are in the midst of a seven-game losing streak, and they have a million questions that need to be answered. Diaz hasn't looked super sharp since returning. Sure, he has a save, but it's important to note he's thrown just nine innings in 11 appearances this year. That's not going to cut it, and no closer should have an ERA north of 10 and a WHIP higher than two.
Diaz discusses what went wrong vs. Diamondbacks
“I think the fastball was great today. Just I missed the slider right in the middle,” Diaz said, according to The Orange County Register's Bill Plunkett. “So I gotta find a way to throw my slider better, execute better pitches, and if I do that, it will be better... I’m a big-league pitcher, so I gotta make pitches. So next time when I come into the game, I gotta do better.”
Diaz said he might've been trying a bit too hard to be perfect with the slider. It missed, and Waldschmidt made him pay, so there's nothing this team can do but try to forget about it and move on.
What is Roberts' plan for this bullpen?
“I thought the fastball was good. I thought the fastball life was good, but the slider just isn’t having much effect. He just hasn’t had the feel for that pitch since he got back," Roberts said in regard to Diaz.
With the way this team has looked during a season-high losing streak, it's not like there's one clear answer that would fix all of their problems. Roberts has four rings for a reason; it's just a matter of having anyone step up at this point in time, but that's much easier said than done.
“I think honestly, you also have to look at the options, and see the way some of these guys are throwing. They’re not throwing great either,” Roberts added. “So we have to keep guys in their roles that they’ve earned, and trying to ‘lane’ guys up and try to get them on a run back the way we were a few weeks ago. So I just don’t think right now there’s a clear-cut alternative.”
Moving forward, it seems like Diaz will remain the team's closer. In the blink of an eye, the D-backs are now only 7.5 games back in the National League West, so that's an extremely interesting situation to monitor, especially knowing that could get down to 5.5 if Arizona takes the remaining two games this weekend.
