{"id":677231,"date":"2026-04-16T23:03:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/677231\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T23:03:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:03:27","slug":"dodgers-edwin-diaz-discusses-knee-issue-steve-cohen-chat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/677231\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers’ Edwin D\u00edaz discusses knee issue, Steve Cohen chat"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

When Dalton Rushing<\/a> hit a grand slam against the Mets on Wednesday night, Edwin Diaz had conflicting feelings.<\/p>\n

On one hand, he was overjoyed for Rushing, the second-year catcher who has made the most of his limited playing time as Will Smith\u2019s backup.<\/p>\n

On the other hand \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to go in the game,\u201d a chuckling Diaz said in Spanish.<\/p>\n

\"EdwinDodgers closer Edwin Diaz said he\u2019s ready to pitch again after feeling back to normal. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Rushing\u2019s home run had turned a save situation into a blowout. With a series in hitter-friendly Colorado set to start on Friday, manager Dave Roberts elected not to use Diaz in the ninth inning, even though he hadn\u2019t pitched in five days.<\/p>\n

Diaz, the former Mets star who signed with Los Angeles on a $69 million contract <\/a>this offseason, consoled himself with a reminder the Dodgers will play his former team again in late July, this time in New York.<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s confident that will happen, downplaying the issues with his surgically repaired knee<\/a> that sidelined him for most of last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel ready to continue pitching,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Deactivate the alarm bells \u2014 for now.<\/p>\n

Diaz\u2019s improved status should be a major relief for the Dodgers. Of their early-season concerns, Diaz\u2019s health could be the most impactful. The Dodgers can win without Kyle Tucker performing like an MVP-caliber hitter or Roki Sasaki pitching like a major leaguer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Being able to count on Diaz to close games, however, is critical for a team whose bullpen was a weakness for extended periods last season. With the ninth inning spoken for, Roberts has been able to deploy Tanner Scott and Blake Treinen in favorable situations. The Dodgers\u2019 bullpen ERA is 3.24, fourth best in the National League.<\/p>\n

Diaz blew his first save of the season in his most recent appearance, which was against the Rangers in the opening game of the Dodgers\u2019 recently completed homestand.<\/p>\n

He said he experienced discomfort in his right knee, which he injured in a celebration at the 2023 World Baseball Classic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter what happened to my knee,\u201d he said, \u201cit sometimes feels a little weak.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MetsEdwin Diaz hurt his knee during a celebration at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Instagram<\/p>\n

But not like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that something wasn\u2019t right,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been pitching for many years, and I know my repertoire. I felt the ball wasn\u2019t jumping out of my hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

He averaged 95.5 mph with his fastball, down from 97.2 mph last year. His slider was flat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have either pitch that day,\u201d Diaz said. \u201cI didn\u2019t have velocity and life on my fastball. There was no life on my fastball. It was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

He knew something wasn\u2019t right when he gave up a homer to Evan Carter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost never give up a home run on an inside fastball to a left-handed hitter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Diaz alerted the training staff of what he felt, which led to him taking a couple of days off. He said he was ready to pitch Tuesday in the second game of the three-game series against the Mets, but that the team asked him to test his knee in a bullpen session.<\/p>\n

Feeling back to normal, Diaz was ready to pitch in the series finale the next day, and he went as far as to warm up. Then, Rushing homered.<\/p>\n

Before the opening game of the series, Diaz had a chance to catch up with Mets owner Steve Cohen, who said in February that he was perplexed by Diaz\u2019s decision to leave his team and sign with the Dodgers over the winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a good relationship,\u201d Diaz said. \u201cHe understands this is a business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked about many things. We didn\u2019t talk about my decision. We talked about our families, how he was doing, how the boys were doing. My relationship with Steve goes beyond sports. They treated me really well in New York, and we always had good communication.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Dalton Rushing hit a grand slam against the Mets on Wednesday night, Edwin Diaz had conflicting feelings.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,2178,39,1087,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4,61,185,1192],"class_list":{"0":"post-677231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-dodgers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-dodgers","11":"tag-edwin-diaz","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-la-dodgers","14":"tag-ladodgers","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-losangelesdodgers","19":"tag-mlb","20":"tag-new-york-mets","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-steve-cohen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116416886717124129","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677231","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=677231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}