LOS ANGELES \u2014 Edwin D\u00edaz pulled on a different blue cap and a white jersey with an unfamiliar number Friday when he formally left the New York Mets for the Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
One of the best relievers in baseball has changed teams and coasts for a landmark free-agent contract, and the Dodgers are confident D\u00edaz’s usual dominance will allow him to stabilize their chaotic bullpen by becoming their first true closer in five years<\/p>\n
And\u00a0D\u00edaz’s famous, heraldic entrance music?\u00a0That’s also staying exactly the same<\/p>\n
D\u00edaz left the Mets after seven years for\u00a0a $69 million, three-year contract\u00a0with the back-to-back World Series champions, who have a deep roster and even deeper pockets
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D\u00edaz was outstanding for the Mets last season, posting a 1.63 ERA and recording 28 saves in 31 chances along with 98 strikeouts over 66 1\/3 innings<\/p>\n
One of the best relievers in baseball has changed teams and coasts for a landmark free-agent contract, and the Dodgers are confident D\u00edaz’s usual dominance will allow him to stabilize their chaotic bullpen by becoming their first true closer in five years.<\/p>\n
And\u00a0D\u00edaz’s famous, heraldic entrance music?\u00a0That’s also staying exactly the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be super exciting when the trumpets sound in Los Angeles,\u201d D\u00edaz said in Spanish. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be special.\u201d<\/p>\n
D\u00edaz left the Mets after seven years for\u00a0a $69 million, three-year contract\u00a0with the back-to-back World Series champions, who have a deep roster and even deeper pockets.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy (to leave),\u201d D\u00edaz said in English while speaking down the hall from his new clubhouse at Dodger Stadium. \u201cI was playing seven years in New York. They treated me really good. They treated me great. I chose the Dodgers because they\u2019re a winning organization. I\u2019m looking to win, and I think they have everything to win, so picking the Dodgers was pretty easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
D\u00edaz was already the highest-paid reliever in the majors last season in Queens, where the slender right-hander nicknamed Sugar became a fan favorite for his talent and competitive grit \u2014 and for his signature bullpen walkouts to \u201cNarco,\u201d a stirring, trumpet-laced dance track.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers loved all of it \u2014 even the music. General manager Brandon Gomes was already musing about a trumpet-themed bobblehead.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we were looking to add impactful players to what we felt like was already a championship-caliber club, we felt like Edwin was the perfect fit,\u201d Gomes said.<\/p>\n
Gomes called D\u00edaz \u201ca selfless superstar (who) fits right into our clubhouse culture. He\u2019s proven this time and time again. In the playoffs, he\u2019ll take the ball in the fourth, fifth inning, take down multiple innings to finish a game. And it\u2019s somebody that we feel like is exactly what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n
D\u00edaz was outstanding for the Mets last season, posting a 1.63 ERA and recording 28 saves in 31 chances along with 98 strikeouts over 66 1\/3 innings. His departure along with the exits of Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo this offseason\u00a0has stoked serious fan discontent.<\/p>\n
There’s absolutely no discontent around the Dodgers, who are still basking in the glow of a second straight title won in spite of their bullpen.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles’ relievers stumbled to a 4.27 ERA that ranked 21st of 30 teams in MLB. High-priced veterans Tanner Scott and Blake Treinen were mostly ineffective, while several relievers missed large chunks of the season with injuries.<\/p>\n
In the bigger picture, nobody has lasted long as the Dodgers\u2019 dedicated closer in the four seasons since they parted ways with Kenley Jansen. No reliever has recorded more than now-departed Evan Phillips’ 24 saves in a season for Los Angeles in that stretch, and last year\u2019s profound struggles put bullpen help atop the champs\u2019 winter priority list.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a high bar to name someone the closer,\u201d president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. \u201cYou have to be one of the best. You have to be elite and dominant at what you do. Sugar is that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dodgers assuaged their bullpen woes this fall by frequently using their starting pitchers in relief. Prized rookie starter Roki Sasaki returned from a long injury absence and effectively became Los Angeles\u2019 closer, while Yoshinobu Yamamoto secured the World Series MVP award by earning the victory in Game 6 as a starter and in Game 7 as a reliever.<\/p>\n
Scott and Treinen are expected back, along with a group of solid-when-healthy relievers including Anthony Banda, Alex Vesia and Jack Dreyer. That wasn\u2019t nearly enough for the Dodgers, who went out to get arguably the top closer in the game. Manager Dave Roberts’ bullpen now is likely to be the most expensive in the majors in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdding an elite closer like Edwin is going to make any bullpen better,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cNow it allows Doc and our coaching staff to put guys into spots leading up to that knowing that it doesn\u2019t really matter who\u2019s (batting) in the ninth, that we\u2019re going to like the matchup.\u201d<\/p>\n
D\u00edaz, who will turn 32 shortly before next season begins, is wearing No. 3 with the Dodgers because his customary No. 39 is retired in honor of beloved catcher Roy Campanella. D\u00edaz said he chose his new number to honor his three sons.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdding talent on talent is always exciting to do,\u201d Gomes said. \u201cOne of the bigger things with Edwin is just the positivity. Everything we\u2019ve heard is this guy is just an incredible human being, but also is going to work his tail off, mentor younger guys, set good habits. He\u2019s going to settle into the clubhouse culture and also make everyone better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 Edwin D\u00edaz pulled on a different blue cap and a white jersey with an unfamiliar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[563,556,560,1769,5,2178,39,2296,1165,4332,4333,774,7018,57,3224,4331,4,557,185,558],"class_list":{"0":"post-477158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-dodgers","8":"tag-app-professional-sports","9":"tag-app-sports","10":"tag-app-top-stories","11":"tag-associated-press","12":"tag-baseball","13":"tag-california","14":"tag-dodgers","15":"tag-hawaii","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-la-dodgers","18":"tag-ladodgers","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-app-region","21":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","22":"tag-losangeles","23":"tag-losangelesdodgers","24":"tag-mlb","25":"tag-professional-baseball","26":"tag-sports","27":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115718762412385712","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}