The Dodgers acquired reliever Alexis Díaz from the Reds for minor league right-hander Mike Villani on Thursday afternoon. Los Angeles transferred Evan Phillips to the 60-day injured list to create a spot on the 40-man roster. According to Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times, Díaz will report to the Dodgers’ Arizona facilities to work with the club’s pitching team.
Diaz, 28, has seen his stock drop precipitously since finishing fifth in 2022 Rookie of the Year voting and making the All-Star team in 2023. He’s lost nearly three miles per hour off his once-96 mph fastball and seen his already problematic walk rate climb to untenable levels. He appeared in six games with Cincinnati this season, surrendered four homers, walked 15.6% of his opponents against just a 9.8% strikeout rate, and plunked two other batters — all en route to a catastrophic 12.00 ERA.
Things haven’t gone much better since he was sent down to Louisville. Diaz’s 4.61 ERA is a far sight better than his small-sample mark of 12.00 in the majors, but he’s walked 17.1% of his Triple-A opponents, hit two more batters and also unleashed a pair of wild pitches. His 93.1 mph average fastball is right in line with the career-worst 93.0 mark he flashed in this year’s six major league innings.
Were Diaz’s struggles confined to just the 2025 season, it’d be easier to view him through a more optimistic lens. That’s not the case. While last year’s 3.99 ERA looks serviceable on the surface, that number belies many of the same worrying trends that have plagued Diaz in 2025. Last year’s average 93.9 mph fastball marked a drop of nearly two miles per hour from Diaz’s rookie rate. His 22.7% strikeout rate and 11% swinging-strike rate were both miles worse than his rates in 2022-23. Diaz’s contact rate jumped from about 67% in 2022-23 to 76.3% last year (and a dismal 87.1% in 2025). All of those worrying trends made Diaz stand out as a viable non-tender candidate, but the Reds kept him around and agreed to a $4.5MM contract to avoid an arbitration hearing. They’re surely regretting that decision at this stage.
Suffice it to say, while Diaz has plenty of name value — both as a former All-Star and as the younger brother of Mets closer Edwin Diaz — he’s a pure project at this point. The Dodgers made no mention of cash considerations in their swap, so it seems they’ll take on the entirety of Diaz’s remaining salary. As of this writing, that’s a total of $2.95MM in salary. Los Angeles will pay a 110% luxury tax on that figure, tacking another $3.25MM onto the bill and bringing the total financial outlay to $6.2MM.
That’s a steep price to pay — before even getting into any prospects changing hands — but if L.A. can successfully get Diaz back on track, he’ll be under club control for three additional seasons via arbitration. Entering the year, that was scheduled to be another two seasons, but his demotion to Triple-A has already cost him enough service time to push that timeframe back by a year. The Dodgers passed on a similar buy-low opportunity with Brewers righty Joel Payamps, who was designated for assignment and passed through waivers, presumably on account of Payamps’ lack of minor league options. Diaz entered 2025 with a full slate of minor league options and will have two remaining beyond the current season.
It’ll be interesting to see if the Dodgers keep Diaz on the 40-man roster. There’d be some risk in running him through waivers, but most clubs would probably balk at the idea of taking on nearly $3MM in guaranteed money for a reclamation project who’s struggled this much both in the majors and in Triple-A. If the Dodgers were to pass Diaz through waivers, they could assign him outright to Triple-A and free the 40-man spot back up, knowing that Diaz would never reject the assignment in favor of free agency (because doing so would require forfeiting the remainder of this year’s guaranteed money).
As for the 22-year-old Villani, he’s a long-term play for the Reds. The Dodgers selected him out of Long Beach State in the 13th round of last year’s draft. Baseball America ranked him 453rd on their top-500 list of draft prospects last year, praising a fastball that runs up to 98 mph but questioning his lack of spin and feel for secondary pitches. Villani commands that heater well, per BA, but he’s barely gotten a chance to show it in pro ball, as injuries have limited him to just two innings with the Dodgers’ Rookie-level affiliate.
Villani is effectively a lottery ticket relief prospect who’s probably two or three years away from even emerging as a realistic option for the Reds — all of which speaks to the extent to which Diaz’s stock has tumbled since he stopped missing bats and lost two to three miles per hour on his fastball.
Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported the Dodgers were nearing a trade for Diaz. Robert Murray of FanSided reported that Villani was going back to Cincinnati.
Interesting move. Didn’t think he was available. I’m surprised LA doesn’t sign Houdini. He’s still sitting at home playing video games
Why hasn’t he escaped by now?
Considering the way Ohtani has blown up the worldwide LAD fan base, there could be 2 LAD fans that go by Houdini yet lack escapist magic skills.
I can bend spoons with my mind. Does that count?
Somebody will sign Robertson at some point, won’t they?
Perplexing.
One would assume they would but as of today i have heard no one showing interest. Age plays a role in that. Scouting of his last MLB action surely figures in as well.but we are clearly hitting the point in the season where injuries and under performance make GMs a bit more desperate for help
Player to be named later from the Lux trade?
No chance.
Agreed they will get an advanced prospect for Diaz. WAG, Outman.
Not even an advanced prospect. Just little ol Mike Villani. Crazy
No kidding. I didn’t realize how much Diaz’s stock had dropped, so I WAGed that one wrong!
Part of the reason for the tiny trade value is the salary. Had he been making the minimum, the return would have been better. The Dodgers have to fix him, or he’s a dead loss and a non-tender candidate for next year.
Dodger staff will repair Diaz. He will return to star status comparable to his brother. In two to three years though, he’ll finally need surgery.
It hardly matters. A $3m prospect is a guy whose upside is backup IFer not including SS.
PTBNLs cannot be on the 40-man roster.
There is no PTBNL. They got the comp A pick and Sirota which was a massive fleece by Friedman once again
You think the Reds are unhappy with what they got in Lux?
Sirota is basically a lottery ticket.
Lux is having a fine season but he has zero power just like with the Dodgers. With two years of team control left hes not worth what they gave up. That “lottery ticket” is having the best season of anyone across single A. And a pick at the end of the first round for the Dodgers will be good
An OPS+ of 114 counts as very productive, even with limited power. The Reds got a solid player in Lux. The draft pick is valuable of course but this is no time to place a high value on Sirota. Performing at single-A is still just performing at single-A. Promotions are more meaningful than numbers at that level. So, we’ll see.
BTW, “sirota” is a slavic word meaning “orphan.”
So was it an orphan for orphan trade? Lux may be less orphan-ish if he ever gets home to Milwaukee.
More seriously, Lux gets a lot of hate from pitchfork-wielding fans because he doesn’t have plus power. Hope to see him continue to get better.
Apparently.
Yes ship all of your zero power players to the Reds they seem to be hoarding enough of them. The Reds needed a power bat not a light hitting utility player. Lux on a team like the Yankees or Dodgers would be great as there’s players to hit him in while the Reds do not possess such players.
The Reds problem is that Lux bats 4th when the often-injured Hays is out of the lineup.
BlueSkies_LA
You think the Reds are unhappy with what they got in Lux?
========================
Probably. Lux has a .787 OPS despite a .398 BABIP, in addition to being a platoon player, and mostly being a leftfielder. Every team should have a player like that in the minors.
I’d rather have the two lottery tickets.
Again citing his OPS+ of 114.
Again citing his OPS+ of 114.
==========================
Again citing his .398 BABIP.
Clear your mind and extrapolate to 600 ABs:
167/87 K/W with 3.6 HRs.
With a clear mind, I can extrapolate an OPS+ over the entire season of 114. Because this clearly the result of a clear mind.
It likely won’t matter. If you take the entire population of players with a .398 BABIP, I would make a substantial wager that their BABIP will decline, and happily lay odds.
“Zero power”?
Xxxxx, please.
He’s currently slugging .406 and bt last year and this, in 676 PA he has 11 HR, 3 triples, and 38 doubles.
I’d call them casual fans, at best.
Hats off to Friedman. Posters here all kill the Dodgers because they spend.
However, the Dodgers have two closers already out on IL, I’m guessing Scott will be placed on IL in short order for a mental break. The Front Office identified a problem, and solved it. Kudos.
I’m so jealous, because this is how a front office us supposed to work for a championship team. Instead, the Red Sox would sign a 35yo from the Mexican League (oh wait they already did that) or, move a kid from a different position in the minors, who never closed a game in his life, and make him the big league club’s primary stopper.
The Cincinnati Reds acquired second baseman Gavin Lux from the Los Angeles Dodgers on January 6, 2025. The trade involved the Reds sending the Dodgers their Competitive Balance Round A pick (No. 37 overall) and outfielder prospect Mike Sirota. The phrase “player to be named later” is not directly related to the Lux trade.
I applaud this move…
Imagine what the return would have been if the Reds had traded him when when they should have, when he was an All-Star.
I don’t follow the Reds, so I’m not familiar with Diaz, the Reds roster or their minor league system. With that disclaimer in mind, would Reds fans have supported trading what I’m guessing was a young, up and coming All-Star closer?
There was mixed reaction. Yes he was a young all star, but the reds were not in contention at the time and advanced metrics were screaming regression in bound
And now here we are
Weren’t they in first place at the deadline that year, and you would’ve wanted them to trade their all star closer?
Not necessarily at that all star break, but the talk was real loud that following off season and through the next trade deadline
Weren’t they in first place at the deadline that year,
=========================
Yes.
The idea of trading him is/was a fantasy that a lot of fans have. Take any player that regressed, and say “they should’ve traded him”.
There was about a -0- chance a 1st place team trades their closer at the trade deadline.
advanced metrics were screaming regression in bound
====================
Of course, which is why they wouldn’t have gotten that big a return. Teams don’t look at unrated rookies that have a couple of good months, and open up the vault for him.
He was 25 as a rookie, so I wouldn’t necessarily call him a rising star. He had one good year and then regressed significantly. Most relievers are like that, so they should have recognized it and capitalized. But the Reds are very poorly run in general. They just signed Garrett Hampson to a major league deal even though we have guys in AA batting over .300
In fairness, Garrett Hampson has batted over .300 in AA also.
Again, I’m not familiar with the Reds, their minor league system, etc, but like ’23, it looks like the Reds are on the periphery of the WC chase. With that in mind, do you have any ’25 All-Stars you recommend trading? The Dbacks could use a high leverage RP or two.
Reds bullpen is trash this year. Haha
But he has already proven who he is at the major league level, which is cheeks.
That relievers are so unpredictable is a constantly repeated claim that isn’t backed up by the facts.
In fact, most relievers that have good seasons (70+%) continue to do so – if they stick beyond 2 or 3 years. They may have an off year in their careers, but those are of the 1 in 4 or 5 years occurrence.
Everybody fell in love with the concept of “fungibility” when it was raised in this context and it stuck despite significant evidence to the contrary. Doesn’t mean some don’t fail or show performance bounces but it is not the norm. But people tend to remember single bad events much more than consistency.
They’re doing just fine, stop being so negative
I never heard anyone suggest trading Diaz back then. Seemed like he was the guy. He was the Reds’ only all-star that season and it was great story that his brother was also a star closer in New York.
How could he have ever been available then ? Their bullpen was worse off then even with him as an all star.
RedLegJason
if the Reds had traded him when when they should have,
===============================
Besides the fact that no one trades their closer in the middle of the playoff run (why would you want that?), he would not have gotten the return you might think he’d have gotten.
He was not a rated rookie, and had only gotten the closer gig by default. In addition, by the time he got noticed, he was already gone. Even in his AS season, he had a very weak BB-rate, and closed out the season with an 18/16 K/W in Aug/Sept.
He was always a mirage.
The time to trade him was to a desperate Mets team when Edwin got hurt and forced out for the season after the WBC. A lot of people wanted that moved to be made, simply because he is related to Edwin. Wouldn’t have been his peak value, but also would have gotten a good return.
Holy selling low Batman!
Another term for “selling low” is “cutting your losses.” It is only selling low if there is a bounce back. You can’t exactly go back and trade him when he was an All Star. And can you imagine the outrage from the Cincinnati fans if they HAD traded him when he was at his peak?
I think they’re thinking of it in terms of saving $3MM of sunk costs.
Because 3 million for the reds is the same as 300 million for the dodgers
3 million could buy a yacht for the reds owners!
Should Diaz rebound in the next season or 2 which is a real possibility the Dodgers seem to think I wonder how “sunk” that cost will look?
It would have been tough for the Reds to tender an arb deal to a guy making $4.5 mil – inflated because he was closing – heading into his 2nd arb season off his current performance so maybe cutting bait makes sense now.
But I’m not going to be shocked – absent a significant arm injury which the Dodgers seem to have more than their share of – if in a year or 2 Diaz is a key piece of their pen.
Among the pen arms the Dodgers now have – many of which are currently injured – that are FAs in ‘26 (Yates $13 mil, Kopech $5.2 mil, & Luis Garcia $1.5 mil, plus recently added Trivino and Chris Stratton) or possibly in ‘27 (Treinen $13.5 M, Phillips arb 3 & $6.1 M now, Graterol arb 3 & $2.8 M now, and Vesia ‘26 opt. for $3.55 or arb 3) there’s plenty of room roster wise and money wise for a flyer like Diaz, who’s only 28. Relievers can be successful well into their 30’s – among the above Garcia and Yates are 38, Treinen is 37, Stratton 34, & Trivino 33. Each have fairly successful seasons in their recent pasts.
I don’t now if the Dodgers think it is likely so much as a decent possibility, for which all they really had to pay was money. When you have an essentially unlimited payroll, these are the kind of dice rolls you can take.
The Dodgers make this deal with an eye toward the playoffs. A potential overpowering arm for the bullpen during the stretch run with little to no risk. This is why the Dodgers keep pushing forward despite a multitude of pitching injuries.
He is no longer overpowering and really never was. The past two years has him constantly losing speed and control on his pitches. The Reds have a pretty great pitching director actually and if he can’t fix him, good luck to the Dodgers.
According to the stats, his BB rate has been pretty consistent prior to this season. High, but consistent.
Consistently rising before exploding this year. Hits per 9 consistently rising before mushrooming this year. Strikeouts per nine went from elite level to ordinary to awful. Diaz is basically unplayable at this point.
Actually, not. His BB rate over his first three seasons is 12.9, 12.6, 12.8 — which is high, but not consistently rising. In those seasons, his K rate went from slightly above average to slightly below. Even his BAA didn’t change much over those three seasons. The wheels came off this season but only in 6.0 innings of work. So I can see why the Dodgers are taking a chance on him. They will try to get him figured out in the minors.
BB( went from 4.7 to 4.8 to 5.0 to 7.5.
K/W went from 2.52 to 2.39 to 1.77 to 0.60.
Try looking at some more advanced stats. The numbers I cited are correct.
BB9 is a stat. K/W is a more advanced stat. But both declined.
My original statement is completely accurate. You are just trying to talk around it and not doing a very good job of it.
My original statement is completely accurate. You are just trying to talk around.
baseball-reference.com/players/d/diazal03.shtml
Saying they have a great pitching director seems to be a bit of a stretch when their pitching has done nothing the past 10 years
Define nothing
Nothing? Man Dodger fans are oblivious or stupid I can’t figure out which one.
Most of the Dodger fans are just casuals/bandwagon fans. They barely pay attetntion to the details of their own supposed team in the first place. All they want is to be part of the cool-kids club and that’s it.
Generalize much?
Blue…don’t feed the fools. That’s paraphrasing your advice.
Touche. Just funny in a sad sort of way what people will say and still expect to be taken seriously.
Jealousy, envy and stupidity is a bad recipe.
And then some of us have been die hard fans for life and remember the dark days of fox and McCourt, and when Olmedo Saenz was our starting first baseman.
My Casey Blake bobblehead would like a word.
You may want to educate yourself Costanza.
“Why anyone would try and throw a fastball past him is beyond me…”
I miss Vin
Derek Johnson won BA coach of the year in 2019, the year Reds revived the broken career of Sonny Gray and the year that Luis Castillo improved to one of MLB’s best starters. Current success stories are Hunter Greene, Andrew Abbott.. Nick Martinez was a story last year. Tyler Mahle, Michael Lorenzen, Wade Miley.. Seems to be mostly starting pitchers who thrived with Derek Johnson so far. .. DJ previously had great success as college coach for Vanderbilt. When Cubs hired him he was one of the only major league coaches ever to not have had a pro playing career. He wrote a book the Complete Guide to Pitching with a forward by David Price, who he coached at Vanderbilt and throughout his career. .. With Alexis Diaz it makes sense he has some makeup issues as kid brother to a New York City star player. LA is probably a better place for him than Cincinnati and celebrity ego managers are probably more important for him than technical advisors.
Derek Johnson is as good a head pitching coach as anyone in MLB.
He’s working well with Terry Francona, who handles pitchers quite well.
Derek johnson has a tough job on a low spending team. He is the pitching director of the entire Reds organization. He has a set idea of how pitchers need to attack the hitters and he also works with their mechanics. Basically, he has to squeeze as much out of their drafted or traded for players. If you look at the current rotation of Greene, Lodolo, and Abbott, his approach is all over those guys. They are all doing pretty good for a team that doesn’t have a big budget. Then, you throw in Chase Burns potentially this year, then for the money, they have one of the best rotations in all of baseball.
The Reds rotation is pretty middle of the road, not close to “one of the best”… Pitching wins games and teams with superior arms usually dont have sub-.500 records
Overpowering? Lol his velocity is way down and he got pummeled at AAA.
The Dodgers are obscene in that they have no compunction in just lighting 7 million bucks on fire for a retread reclamation project. Guys like this fall thru the cracks all the time on the DFA wire and can be had for pennies. The Dodgers are just like “Watch us throw money away. It doesn’t matter to us how much things cost. Look at Conforto.”
Great tee shirt: NO COMPUNCTION!
Compunction is my middle name — don’t wear it out!
May be the first time that word has been used on MLBTR although not sure if I used it correctly haha.
You would know!
Lou Trivino or this guy will be getting big outs for the Dodgers this year, potentially even both.
If you think that Diaz “will be getting big outs for the Dodgers this year”, you are in for a rude awakening.
Calling AZ Mike Hazen, where are you, Here the Dodgers get a RP with a All-Star appearance, having a rough season, and what does Hazen give the fans of the D’Backs a call up of a Met reject. That has thrown only mop up games as a ML. I guess the Dodgers can go out and get a former closer, but Hazen believes in digging a little deeper in the ML dumpster for his relief pitchers.
Christian Montes de Oca isn’t the former Met Bryce Montes de Oca.
Diaz is washed. Count your lucky stars you didn’t trade for him. AAA players are ripping him.
Jose Castillo is now pitching for the Mets. You sir, are totally wrong.
So Diaz is the answer to the AZ BP problems?
AZ should be fine in the late innings with Martinez and Puk once the latter returns. Puk going down has cost AZ several wins because Ginkel was terrible.
Dude hasn’t found the plate for a year and a half. Not a great loss. Reds have both Mey and Maxw
Maxwell to fill that role..
Reds giving up on AS closer a bit prematurely (who isnt a FA until after 2027)
and all they get is a 13th rd prospect in return who has pitched 2 innings in rookie ball
Hasn’t been good for 1.5 yrs. Hardly anything premature about the reds moving on from him
1.5 years is nothing
camilo doval struggled badly in 2024, lost CL role, everyone demanded he be traded
in 2025 he turned things around, back to being awesome CL
reds not only gave up on him, they traded him for nothing. fans are funny. as soon as a guy has ONE bad year they demand his @ss get traded. i get it. i get frustrated with my tm. i get even more frustrated when my tm moves players with something still left in the thank for zero in return. what exactly are reds fans happy about? that he’s no longer on the tm? i bet you anything he thrives given a 2nd chance with the dodgers. and you will be back here, frustrated that he should have stayed in cincy and why did they trade him and why did they get nothing in return…
Doval didn’t get consistently worse year after year. He stayed pretty steady between 2021 and 2023, fell off in 2024, and is rebounding in 2025. Diaz meanwhile went from a 1.84 ERA/3.32 FIP his rookie year, a 3.07 ERA and 3.55 FIP his second season, and then had a 3.99 ERA/4.57 FIP his third season. I don’t think anyone thinks he has a great shot of rebounding in Cincy. He may with the Dodgers though given they seem to have decent pitching development.
Dude had nothing left. Maybe you should use this thing called the Internet. He couldn’t even get AAA players out.
Sounds like the dodgers think they have spotted something they can adjust or fix. Even if it’s surgery, they have time on their side.
I don’t know about the return or better trades available but moving him could have been a matter of accommodating him and a better fit with a new team where he has better opportunity to change course. It was going to be a struggle with the Reds. His salary is significant and he’s not currently performing to it. Not an easy player to trade now and would be a difficult fix for the Reds.
I don’t understand this move at all for the Reds. They have nothing to lose by keeping Diaz in the minors while he figures out his issues and comes back to prove he can throw at his previous level. They’re selling at the absolute lowest value. Only budget could explain it.
Perhaps the meta here is that they are tacitly admitting that he’s hurt and refuses to get a necessary surgery, or something similar. But I can’t see how this move makes sense for them.
That being said, it’s a killer move by the Dodgers with zero-risk and massive reward.
maximize_futility:
They could be wrong, but I think what it’s telling us is the Reds don’t think he’s at his lowest value. He’s gotten progressively worse each season and Im getting the sense they don’t have much confidence it’s going to get better for him. Time will tell.
They have about $2.9mil to lose for a player they apparently believe is done for.
Maybe they don’t want him and do t think he’ll put the work in to solve his problems. It’s not all about talent. He’s also been bad since before the last all-star game. Just move on to someone else.
The ‘low point’ issue is that he is very unlikely to redeem himself before the trade deadline. He has one month to turn it around in AAA, and then one month to turn it around in the pros. I think that’s pretty unlikely.
And there is always a chance a trade to another team might turn around his fortunes, but that’s usually not the case. Sometimes you have to cut your losses.
LA Deferrals might want to contact Cards & see if they can work out a deal for Helsley
Only if Arenado is included!
~Mozeliak
Arenado will be wearing Yankee pinstripes by July 4th. Cards are blessed with several players who can occupy 3B. Note, I used the word “occupy” and not “excel.”.
Wondering if putting Walker back to his original position might be the elixir needed to unlock his innate talent? Still finding it hard to believe it’s been all downhill for him since his very decent rookie season.
killer move? velocity is way down and can’t throw strikes! also gives up a ton of dingers? WAY overvaluing this guy. he’s horrible. take him….youve been warned
sure there’s in between…he will continue to suck out loud. spin it however you like
This x10000
Alexis Diaz has been TERRIBLE and he cost $4.5m. Sure, he has 2 more years left of arbitration, but he was going to get non-tendered anyways. They should have sold sooner. Oh well…
I wonder if anyone had been healthy all season yet not quality for an arb raise ? Or even worse, you actually get a salary reduction. Is that even possible ? Guess so if you count cost of living adjustment haha
I don’t remember seen an arb reduction from year to year, same figure yes, but arb year always goes up. Bellinger was MVP before arb, so his arb years were very high even the Dodgers had to non tender him.
I take it he was still earning his full arbitration salary even though he was optioned to the minors, correct?
Yes. He was making $4.5 mil to get shellacked in AAA
Being paid (not earning).
if you’re not competing just trade your closer. a good closer has no value on a bad team
Of course it’s not quite so simple if your closer is cost controlled beyond this season. Assuming you’re trying to compete then.
Hasn’t been their closer all season. Thanks for playing though.
He’s saying the Reds should have traded Diaz last season or even 2023. Or, in general, that any team out of contention at the deadline should consider trading it’s closer. Which is kind of an oversimplification.
They were in first place in the central in 23 at the deadline, last year by the deadline it was obvious things were going poorly to everyone.
Am talking about 2 years ago. They let him rot on the vine while they weren’t good
And you don’t know what you’re talking about. As blah blah blah said, the Reds were in first place two years ago at the deadline.
That was a reply to wire to wire
He wasn’t any good after July, 2023. There was never going to be any huge return.
The A’s have terrible defenders, by and large. They should have traded Mason Miller for some players who can provide value on offense and defense.
So true. Which is why I’m expecting Bednar and Finnegan to change uniforms this summer. Wouldn’t shock me if the Brewers trade Megill, too. Hey, if you can trade Hader and Williams, why not Megill? Besides, Uribe looks like the real deal.
Maybe the Brewers can get some left side of the infield help for Megill.
Looks like the link to Mike Villani is going to the wrong Mike Villani.
Are you sure? They love to collect infielders.
The IF is in college and hasn’t been drafted yet, so that would be an interesting move.
That makes sense. I know it was a salary dump but that link went to the worst player I’ve ever seen traded lol
Must be this one:
baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=vil…
He’s a pitcher and was drafted by the Dodgers in 2024. Off to a great start in Rookie ball, albeit at 22 years old.
Hopefully this doesn’t mean Evan Phillips arm/forearm is not hurt again.
It’s been reported as an elbow inflammation but transferring him to the 60-day is a definite red flag. He won’t even be eligible again until well into July.
Roberts’s last update wasnt great, called it ‘concerning’ Im already bracing the TJ announcement or something season ending
Dave Dombrowski should be embarrassed that he failed to bring this guy here. Dodgers gave up basically minor league fodder.
Well Diaz generally sucks, so there’s that.
Was more disappointed in Dombro for not jumping on Joel Payamps. He was darn good in 2023 and 2024. A few bad outings this year trashed his surface numbers. JMHO, but Brewers will be thankful no team claimed him.
Joe S
Dave Dombrowski should be embarrassed
=========================
Where do you think Diaz would fit in with the Phillies?
Or more importantly, if you want Diaz, why not just sign Robertson?
He was walking too many in that park. In LA, he won’t have to worry about that so much.
About that killing him in that big park,that is.
Since the start of last year there are 140 pitchers who have a higher WAR than a guy who can barely get through AAA.
It’s always worth taking flyers when you can look at burning 3 million on a pitcher who looks done or too hurt to get better.
He has not been the closer all year.
He’s been below average to bad for over a year.
Too bad they did not sell at deadline last year and tried to steal a better prospect.
Oh boy a 13th round pick already on a rehab assignment. More trades where the Reds get absolutely nothing in return (see Winker and Suarez trade).
Like the Lux and Trevino and Singer trades too?
How many wins have those trades produced?
They are not winning as consistently not because of those 3 at all. Those trades have worked out great for them so far.
You know damn well the issue is an inconsistent but still very good Cruz.
Matt McLain turning into late career Dan Uggla.
Marte getting hurt after only 19 games of production.
Lux is way overrated. Singer is your basic SP waiting for the phone call that puts him on the IL. Trevino is a nice story, but don’t throw away those Johnny Bench baseball cards just yet!
Love all of these expert Reds fans. Good comic relief.
They traded him for absolutely zero return……..
Alexis Diaz wouldn’t command a AAA player in return though………..
Couldn’t be any worse than Scott. I’m disappointed that Phillips won’t be back any time soon. I actually trust him in late innings.
Dodgers call Reds
We are interested in Alexis Diaz.
Done.
Wait, you haven’t heard our offer.
If he once played baseball at any level, we will take him.
He’s the younger brother of Edwin Díaz.
Edwin uses a trumpet in his walk-up music. What should Alexis use? A flute? slide whistle? kazoo?
Accordion.
The price is right losing music
I vote for kazoo with the season he has had.
The obvious answer is an Orkish “Katmuda” (“Death to All Men”) chant such as was used at the Battle of Helm’s Deep
Banjo.
Remember when Timmy Trumpet went down, and all the Met fan boys on here were begging to acquire this guy?
Lmao.
With how the Mets pitching lab is going lately it still doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Relievers are so up and down even this stretch of baseball for him doesn’t dim his potential
The Diaz Brothers look like they could be in the WWE Bloodline! Especially Edwin!
Reds probably could have grabbed Pages for Alexis plus a lottery ticket minor leaguer in the winter months. Now Reds get basically nothing but payroll relief. SMH
Payroll relief is job numero uno for the Reds. Nobody worth anything ever sticks around for too long. Gonna be interesting when Elly becomes a FA. Will the Reds pay him, say, $30 million a year? Doubtful.
Sadly, he’ll be gone a year before free agency most likely.
They’ll fix him and he’ll be the closer.
How the mighty have fallen
Going from the Reds to the Dodgers is a pretty good fall….
It’s an upgrade for his career sure but trade stock wise it’s concerning.
Pitching is like real estate: location, location, location. Whatever the reason. Diaz lost his, started walking the ballpark and giving up dingers, and losing zip on the fastball and depth on the slider.
Even with him going to the money machine, I wish him well for the good times. Hope he figures it out for the sake of his career.
Giving Friedman my Y! logins
There are way too many people on here that see a name and get excited like they’re watching the same player they saw two to three years ago. I wonder how many people on this site actually watch baseball?
Most, but they are not expert viewers with proven viewing credentials.
Fire sell start
Great move by LA. If there’s an organization who can cure whatever it is that’s ailing Diaz, it’s the Dodgers. Plus, it has to be nerve racking for pitchers pitching in the Reds’ bandbox of a home park knowing every fly ball might land in the cheap seats.
Might be a huge opportunity for Diaz since Scott isn’t my idea of a slam dunk closer. Yates is 38 years old and Treinan is on the IL.
The Dodgers… curing… Nah.
I have thought of Diaz as an adrenaline junkie. Even when he was good, he would come into games and not really get it together until things were tight. But he could bear down and do it. In a non save situation he was very pedestrian. Now that he has lost some speed he doesn’t seem to have the extra something that would get him through the tight spots.
And people started to figure him out. He relied on batters swinging at his low slider out of the zone. Now that they lay off of it, he struggles. Now when he comes into the game and walks the first couple batters he’s stuck.
As a Reds fan, it sucks seeing Diaz go, but you could look at it two ways
On the one hand, he’s been horrible this year. The fact the Reds got a player at all for a guy who was certainly being non-tendered + the Dodgers taking the rest of his money is not nothing.
On the flip side… are they gonna actually use the money saved to improve the roster or are we gonna see it used on a Garrett Hampson or Connor Joe? Or… is it gonna go straight into Nepo Boy’s pockets? Front office doesn’t exactly have our trust right now.
Oh, btw, the GMs in the comments are hilarious. When would they have traded him? 2023, when they were in first place at the deadline? Yeah, that would have gone over really well. As you know, Seattle did that in 2023 and went on to tear up the postseason… oh wait… my mistake, they actually missed the playoffs that year and Paul Sewald saved Game 7 to send Arizona to the World Series. Whoops.
Yeah, Phil is planning an extra family Summer trip with the savings on this deal….
At least, Dodgers can stash Diaz in the minors and figure out his issues. If he busts, it was just cash and a low-level prospect….
Reds fans know the Reds should have traded closer Alexis Diaz for recently injured Yankees closer Luke Weaver back before he was a closer and made him a closer like everyone in Cincinnati foresaw he would become.
Either you’ve got Mike Villani linked to the wrong Mike Villani over at Baseball-Reference, or the Reds just made a spectacularly horrible trade. Since even the Reds can’t make a deal so bad as a red shirt freshman hitting .083 for Diaz, I suspect its the former.