The winter meetings are already in full swing, and the Dodgers have secured their first major splash of the offseason in former New York Mets closer Edwin Díaz.
The Dodgers and Díaz agreed to a three-year, $69 million deal on Tuesday which will make him the highest paid closer per annual average value. Díaz is coming off of a stellar 2025 season where he made his third career All-Star appearance, posting a 6-3 record with a 1.63 ERA and 28 saves for New York.
Advertisement
Jack Oliver over at Jomboy Media, known as Jolly Olive on social media, interviewed agent Scott Boras shortly after both the Díaz and Kyle Schwarber signings, with Boras noting that the addition of Díaz gives the Dodgers that much more firepower.
“The Dodgers got something that probably was the element of greatest need for the them, which gives certainly Goliath another muscle to flex I would say.”
Michael Baumman of Fangraphs writes about Diaz’s overall projections for the 2026 and beyond and how he’ll fit in with the Dodgers bullpen. Although the entire group struggled as a whole and there’s no guarantee that he’ll be as elite as he was in 2025, there’s sufficient reason to believe that Díaz will be a more than solid fixture to guide the weakest facet of a championship caliber team.
The Dodgers, of course, have shopped at the top of the relief pitcher market before, and with disastrous effect… So the Dodgers know better than anyone that Díaz is not a sure thing. But, like, he’s about as close as you can get.
Links
Former Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli will now be a part of the Dodgers front office, as he will take on a front office special advisory role, teaming up once again with Andrew Friedman, notes Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune. Baldelli had spent the last seven seasons with Minnesota, guiding them to postseason appearances in 2019, 2020 and 2023, and won AL Manager of the Year in his first year with the team.
Advertisement
Only one candidate from the Contemporary Era ballot made the Hall of Fame, being former second baseman and 2000 NL MVP Jeff Kent. Kent spoke with Kirsten Watson of SportsNet LA about his time with the Dodgers, where he spent the final four years of his career while making the All-Star team with them in 2005.
“It was big. My body and my brain by the time I got to L.A. was still focused, was still wanting to finish on a high note. To some importance though, it was coming back home because I grew up in southern California, so I was able to have my parents sit in the front row behind home plate just about every game we were at home… There were a lot of memories that came back in those four years.”
Kent now becomes the fifth Hall of Fame inductee since 2022 to have spent time with the Dodgers throughout his career.