The Dodgers need to trade for a reliever. One they already acquired is showing promise

New York Times

2 days ago

CINCINNATI — As the Los Angeles Dodgers scour the market for ways to reinvest in their beleaguered bullpen, they're still waiting to find out what they have in the deal they've already made.
Tuesday, that acquisition got booed. The Dodgers enjoyed the result. Alexis Díaz did not understand why boos roared throughout Great American Ball Park when the former Cincinnati Reds All-Star returned to face his former team for the first time. He continued what he hopes can be a career revitalization, needing just eight pitches to record four outs and keeping the score tight enough for the Dodgers to rally back and win, 5-4.
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Díaz's outing was largely a footnote in a night the Dodgers should be proud of. Just a week ago, manager Dave Roberts declared his bullpen had hit 'rock bottom,' imploding in unwatchable fashion. Tuesday, it inherited a bases-loaded situation in the fifth and got out of it with minimal damage. The relievers wouldn't allow a run the rest of the way. Díaz, looking more like the version of himself that excelled here, helped the Dodgers pull it off.
It was not a night that will change the team's course before Thursday's trade deadline. The Dodgers are still seeking at least one right-handed reliever via trade, and have been connected to just about every high-leverage reliever available. Another emerged Tuesday, according to league sources: Tampa Bay Rays closer Pete Fairbanks.
Whoever the Dodgers do get will come at an extreme cost. Díaz largely did not, acquired at the end of May for a reliever in rookie ball named Mike Villani and a willingness to take on Díaz's salary in his first year in arbitration, approximately $3 million. That's how far Díaz's stock had fallen. He'd broken out as a rookie in 2022, with a 1.84 ERA in 59 appearances. The next year, he was an All-Star. Even a year ago, he recorded 28 saves. The Reds sent him to the minors after six ineffective innings with a 12.00 ERA, and shipped him out two months into the season.
So, when Díaz jogged out from the bullpen in the seventh inning on Tuesday night, a home Cincinnati crowd of 36,135 booed.
'I expected something different,' Díaz said. 'For those years I was here, I pitched really well and I was liked during that time. So to see that, it surprised me a lot.'
Díaz was surprised and still grateful to the organization that allowed him to flourish. He made quick work of his former team, showing off some of the overhaul the Dodgers have put him through over the last two months. His fastball touched 96 mph and had life. His slider was firm. He threw strikes.
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'I think that was personal,' Roberts said. 'That was good to see. The stuff, the fastball, the slider, all that stuff was big … I think a lot of adrenaline, coming back to a place, being welcomed by boos, I think was a little bit more motivation.'
The Dodgers' changes with Díaz were immediate, with the team trying to microwave some of the leftover traits to recreate an All-Star reliever out of Díaz under their watch. Rather than have him report to the big league club or even to Triple-A Oklahoma City, they sent Díaz to Arizona to work under the close eye of development staff at the team's spring training complex. After having Díaz face hitters once to get a baseline, the team started running through suggestions.
First, they wanted to get his arm back on time, rather than having it rise up late in his delivery and sacrifice command and velocity as a result. They suggested he start with his glove lower, below his belt, but that didn't work. Watching one of the game's best, Díaz had an idea. The right-hander noticed that former Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes would start his delivery with his glove positioned on his front hip, which allowed him to bring the glove and his arm across his chest before rearing back for a pitch. That was similar to a mental cue that Díaz used as a rookie.
'I looked and it seemed perfect,' Díaz said.
It was worth a shot. He tried it against hitters, and his stuff was better. Another effect: his arm angle had dropped precipitously after his 2022 season, from 17 degrees to 12 degrees in 2023 to 10 degrees a year ago. In his brief time with the Dodgers, his arm angle has averaged 18.9 degrees.
'My arm was more on top of the ball than I was at the beginning of this year,' Díaz said. 'We were able to do it quickly.'
'It was just kind of getting his delivery into a better place, his direction and how he's getting into his back hip,' general manager Brandon Gomes said earlier this month. 'His arm slot crept up a little bit, and having a little better direction to the plate.'
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This is by no means a finished product. Roberts admitted this weekend that the team still doesn't know what it has in Díaz, much less with just three appearances under his belt. Upgrades are still needed. But, at least for one night, he found a way to silence the boos and look like his old self.
(Photo of Alexis Díaz on Tuesday: Sam Greene / The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)