Rangers Outright Alexis Diaz
The Rangers announced this afternoon that they’ve assigned right-hander Alexis Diaz outright to Triple-A. Diaz had previously been designated for assignment by Texas on Friday to make room for Jalen Beeks on the 40-man roster.
Diaz, 29, is a one-time All-Star and the younger brother of Dodgers closer Edwin Diaz. The younger Diaz was a 12th-round pick by the Reds back in 2015 who made his big league debut during the 2022 campaign. He made an immediate splash upon reaching the majors with a 1.89 ERA in 59 appearances, and made his lone All-Star appearance the following year after settling in as Cincinnati’s closer. An up-and-down 2024 season saw Diaz struggle to maintain his previous success, and while he did manage to get his ERA down below 4.00 by the end of the year thanks to a strong second half (2.83 ERA from July onwards), even those stronger months came with lackluster peripherals. His strikeout rate on the year plummeted from over 30% in both 2022 and ’23 all the way down to 22.7% in 2024.
By the time the 2025 season rolled around, Diaz’s uneven performance and shaky peripherals had gotten the better of him. The right-hander’s strikeout rate dropped further to just 20.0% last year, while his walk rate reached a career-high 14.1%. He ended up bouncing between the Reds, Dodgers, and Braves throughout the 2025 season, but was shelled to the tune of an 8.15 ERA and an 8.51 FIP across 18 appearances in the majors. That made it hardly surprising when Atlanta opted to outright Diaz off their roster, and he elected free agency shortly thereafter.
He wound up signing in Texas on a $1MM MLB guarantee. The decision to bring Diaz into the fold was a relatively low-risk one given the low cost of the deal, and the right-hander entered Spring Training competing for a spot in the Rangers bullpen with the upside of a potential set-up man or even closer if he managed to rediscover his early career form with the Reds. That’s not how Spring Training has gone so far, however. Diaz has allowed eight runs while recording just five outs across three spring appearances. He’s walked four batters and hit another while striking out just one opponent. He’s looked entirely lost on the mound and, as a result, it was hardly a shock when he passed through waivers unclaimed following his DFA.
Diaz has the requisite service time to decline his outright assignment, but in doing so would forfeit the $1MM salary he’s owed for the 2026 season. That makes it all but certain that Diaz will accept his outright assignment and stick with the Rangers at Triple-A Round Rock going forward. That gives the Rangers the opportunity to continue working with Diaz in hopes of helping to get him back on track. If their efforts are successful, the right-hander can be controlled via arbitration through the 2028 season. In the meantime, the Rangers will turn to Robert Garcia, Chris Martin, Jakob Junis, and Beeks for veteran help in their bullpen.
Rangers Designate Alexis Díaz For Assignment
The Rangers announced Friday that right-hander Alexis Díaz has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster goes to veteran lefty Jalen Beeks, whose previously reported one-year contract with Texas is now official.
Díaz, 29, signed a major league contract of his own with the Rangers earlier in the winter. The former Reds All-Star is being paid $1MM this year but has struggled immensely in spring training after a discouraging 2025 showing. Díaz has appeared in three official spring games and walked four of the 13 hitters he’s faced. He’s plunked another. Considering he walked 14.1% of his opponents in the majors last year and more than 16% of his Triple-A opponents, continued command problems of this magnitude stand as a notable red flag.
It’s possible that for the Rangers, attempting to pass Díaz through waivers at some point was the plan all along. It’s become increasingly common for teams to sign free agents who have fewer than five years of service time to major league contracts with modest salaries and then pass them through waivers. (Díaz has 3.088 years of service.) Those players aren’t able to retain the remainder of their guaranteed salary upon rejecting an outright assignment. If Díaz goes unclaimed — which seems likely given last year’s struggles and his poor command this spring — he’ll very likely accept an outright assignment and give the Rangers some depth and a reclamation project with which to work at the Triple-A level.
Early in his career, Díaz looked to be following in the footsteps of older brother Edwin Díaz in a march to stardom. He finished fifth in 2022 NL Rookie of the Year voting after pitching 63 2/3 innings with a 3.07 ERA, 10 saves, 13 holds and a gaudy 32.5% strikeout rate. His 12.9% walk rate was an eyesore, but Díaz offset the free passes with a glut of strikeouts. His velocity and strikeout rate have dipped in each subsequent season, however, and Díaz’s struggles reached a tipping point last year.
The Reds optioned Díaz to Triple-A on May 1 after he was rocked for eight runs in his first six innings (during which he walked five men and hit another two). Four weeks later, he was traded to the Dodgers. Los Angeles called him up mid-July and gave him nine innings, during which he was tagged for five more runs. Díaz was designated for assignment in early September and claimed by the Braves, who gave him another 2 2/3 innings during which he served up three more runs. Díaz finished the season with an 8.15 ERA in 17 2/3 big league innings. He logged a 5.61 ERA in 25 1/3 Triple-A frames.
Díaz is a recognizable name with plenty of track record, but at this point he’s more than two full years removed from his last campaign as a high-end reliever (2023). The Rangers can spend the next five days trying to trade him before he has to be put on waivers, though he can be waived at any point in the interim as well. Any team that claims Díaz would be on the hook for that $1MM salary. As previously noted, if Díaz passes through waivers unclaimed, he’ll surely remain in the organization by accepting an outright assignment, as rejecting would mean forfeiting that $1MM guarantee.
Narrowing Down The Closer Options In Texas
The Rangers and White Sox were the only teams in the league last season that failed to have a reliever record double-digit saves. Jhoan Duran and David Bednar each did it with two different teams. The 43-win Rockies had multiple pitchers lock down 10+ games.
Texas finished the year tied for 22nd in saves with the Nationals, who also had two relievers reach the double-digit threshold. Luke Jackson, Shawn Armstrong, and Robert Garcia had a three-way tie for the Rangers team lead at nine saves. Phil Maton chipped in three, while Chris Martin had two.
Jackson, Armstrong, and Maton have moved on to other organizations. Martin is back with the club, embarking on his age-40 season. Garcia remains a key piece of the late-inning equation, though the club is sorely lacking in high-leverage lefties. Here’s a quick look at how the closer role could shake out in Texas…
Robert Garcia
The case against Garcia has nothing to do with his skills. He posted a sub-3.00 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning in his first year with the club. Garcia notched 15 holds in addition to his nine saves. The Rangers’ acquisition of Garcia from the Nationals for Nathaniel Lowe, who landed in Cincinnati on a minor league deal this offseason, seems like a clear win.
The problem for Garcia is the lack of other lefties in the ‘pen. Tyler Alexander is the only healthy left-hander on the 40-man roster who will definitely be filling a relief role. He comes to Texas after four straight seasons with a 4.50 ERA or worse. Jacob Latz is a candidate for the rotation. If he comes up short for the No. 5 spot, he’ll likely be in a flexible multi-inning role.
Garcia is the lone holdover from the 2025 closer trio, but he had that role under former manager Bruce Bochy. Skip Schumaker is at the helm now. The new skipper had a lefty closer in Tanner Scott during his two seasons with the Marlins, but those teams also had A.J. Puk, Andrew Nardi, and Steven Okert as left-handed options.
Chris Martin
The veteran right-hander’s career has seemed over multiple times recently. He said at the close of the 2024 campaign that he was 95% sure that 2025 would be it for him. Then this past season included three different injuries, punctuated by a chilling diagnosis of thoracic outlet syndrome. And yet, Martin is back with the Rangers on a one-year deal.
The soon-to-be 40-year-old has been a solid reliever for much of his career, but it’s hard to know how many innings he can handle at this point. It’s also difficult to gauge how the Rangers will treat him. It was pedal to the metal to begin 2025, as Martin pitched in all three games of the first series against Boston. It’d be surprising to see him used anywhere near that frequently this year.
This is by far the most intriguing name on the list, given his past run as a solid closer and his more recent history as a struggling minor-league reliever. Diaz dominated in his 2022 debut with the Reds, firing 63 2/3 innings of a 1.84 ERA and a 32.5% strikeout rate. He picked up 10 saves as a rookie. He would go on to rack up 65 saves over the next two seasons.
Diaz missed the start of last season with a hamstring strain. He was crushed for eight earned runs over six innings once he returned, and found himself back in Triple-A. Cincinnati would deal him to the Dodgers at the end of May. Diaz continued to scuffle in L.A. and was even worse after latching on with the Braves to close the year. If he can find a way to regain a couple of ticks on his fastball, Diaz could push for high-leverage opportunities.
It’s been a long journey to the big leagues for the 2018 first-round pick, but the converted starter was a significant contributor in the bullpen last season. The majority of Winn’s work came in the middle innings, but he did pick up four holds. The right-hander posted a pristine 1.51 ERA. He deserves some credit for that mark, though the underlying numbers point to regression. Winn had a .194 BABIP and a 90.5% LOB%. His xERA and xFIP were both over 4.00.
While he probably won’t put up a sub-2.00 ERA again, Winn does have the stuff of a high-leverage arm. He sits above 96 mph with the four-seamer, while boasting a pair of strong swing-and-miss pitches. Winn’s slider had a 34% whiff rate, and his splitter had a hefty 43.3% mark. It’s odd to see a short reliever throw five different pitches at least 12% of the time, but the arsenal is viable.
Carter Baumler (honorable mention)
The Rule 5 pick has been turning heads in camp. Baumler has an upper-90s heater with a hard slider and a big curveball. Schumaker described the arsenal as “stuff that we don’t really have in the mix of the potential bullpen construction,” relayed by Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News. Baumler has never made it above Double-A, so it’s hard to imagine him stepping into a late-inning role. His first goal will be just making the team. Baumler is well on his way to earning a roster spot with three strikeouts across two scoreless innings in Spring Training.
Photo courtesy of Matt Kartozian, Imagn Images
Rangers Sign Alexis Diaz
December 16: Texas officially announced the signing of Díaz to a one-year contract. He only has three-plus years of MLB service time and will be eligible for arbitration through the 2028 campaign. This brings their 40-man roster count to 38, not including their yet to be finalized signing to bring back Chris Martin.
December 12: The Rangers are in agreement with reliever Alexis Díaz on a one-year deal, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News first suggested that the sides were closing in on a deal, and has suggested the contract will be on the cheaper side.
With Phil Maton, Chris Martin, Jacob Webb, Hoby Milner, and Danny Coulombe all reaching free agency after the season, Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young has to assemble a new bullpen once again. He made a pair of relief additions within minutes of each other Friday night with the signings of Diaz and Tyler Alexander.
Diaz, 29, was a 12th round pick of the Reds out of a Puerto Rico high school a decade ago. He skipped Triple-A to make the Reds’ Opening Day roster in 2022, making good on the promotion by posting a 1.84 ERA and earning a fifth place Rookie of the Year finish despite a bout with biceps tendinitis. With a strong start to the 2023 season, Diaz earned an All-Star nod. He finished third in the NL with 37 saves that year. Diaz punched out 31.2% of batters faced during his first two seasons, 14th in baseball among relievers with at least 100 innings. However, he also had the fourth-worst walk rate in that group at 12.8%.
Diaz was able to save another 28 games with a 3.99 ERA for the Reds in 2024, but his strikeout rate plummeted to 22.7% with the walks remaining a problem. On the strength of his saves totals and early success, he landed a $4.5MM salary for 2025 as he entered the arbitration system.
The righty started 2025 on the IL with a hamstring injury, and things only went downhill from there. Diaz was still under consideration for the Reds’ closing job when he made his mid-April season debut, but after a disastrous three-homer outing against the Cardinals on April 30th, he was sent back to Triple-A.
Diaz’s control issues continued at Triple-A, and by the end of May the Reds sent him to the Dodgers in a trade for minor league pitcher Mike Villani. Diaz served in a low-leverage, up-and-down capacity for the Dodgers, who eventually designated him for assignment on September 4th. He then joined the Braves in a waiver claim and made three appearances before being sent down. Diaz elected free agency in early October.
Diaz’s nine-game stint with the Dodgers was easy to forget, but it ending up playing a role in the club signing his older brother Edwin a few days ago to a three-year, $69MM deal. According to Edwin, “He told me the Dodgers are a really good organization. He made it easy for me.”
Alexis may be on the opposite end of the relief salary spectrum as compared to his older brother, but Chris Young had success last winter with bargain-basement relievers. He let Kirby Yates and David Robertson depart for greener pastures, signing Armstrong, Webb, Milner, Martin, and Luke Jackson to one-year deals topping out with Martin’s $5.5MM. All but Jackson had solid years. Milner and trade deadline pickup Maton signed with the Cubs this offseason. Southpaw Robert Garcia serves as the main holdover.
Mike Maddux departed for the Angels after three years as the Rangers’ pitching coach, leading the club to elevate Jordan Tiegs to the role under new manager Skip Schumaker. According to Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News, “Tiegs, 38, ran the team’s bullpen last season in his first on-field role with the big league club, helped stabilize a group that was largely pieced together the previous winter and drew positive reviews from veteran relievers and organizational higher-ups.”
Tiegs will have his work cut out for him with Diaz. The righty’s average fastball velocity slipped from 95.8 miles per hour as a rookie to 93.6 with his three teams this year, though it plays up with some of the best extension in the game. It’s been two years since Diaz missed bats with a high spin rate fastball and one of the best sliders featured by any reliever. His control is worse than ever. Diaz has been able to dodge longballs until this year, but doesn’t really keep the ball on the ground.
Young’s active Friday evening included the signings of Diaz, Alexander, and catcher Danny Jansen in rapid succession. He previously swapped Marcus Semien for Brandon Nimmo for an OBP boost. With limited payroll flexibility, Young figures to continue adding to the pitching staff.
Jarred Kelenic, Three Others Elect Free Agency
October 2nd: Kelenic, Díaz, Dunning and Williams have officially elected free agency, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic.
October 1st: The Braves have begun offseason roster housekeeping. Atlanta announced they’ve outrighted five players — outfielder Jarred Kelenic, right-handers Alexis Díaz and Dane Dunning, catcher Sandy León, and utility player Luke Williams — off the 40-man roster. They’ll all be minor league free agents in the next couple weeks.
Atlanta had 11 players finish the season on the 60-day injured list. They’ll all need to be activated or placed on waivers within five days of the end of the World Series. This clears five spots, and three more will open when Raisel Iglesias, Marcell Ozuna and Charlie Morton reach free agency. Ha-Seong Kim will need to decide on his $16MM player option. They’ll need to drop at least two more players (three if Kim doesn’t opt out) within the next few weeks.
These were all relatively easy cuts, though it marks an unceremonious end to Kelenic’s disappointing time in Atlanta. The Braves took a lot of dead money off Seattle’s books to acquire the former top prospect during the 2023-24 offseason. He hit .231/.286/.393 with a near-30% strikeout rate across 449 plate appearances in 2024.
Atlanta signed Jurickson Profar to replace him as the starting left fielder. With Ronald Acuña Jr. rehabbing ACL surgery and Profar getting suspended for a failed PED test, Kelenic had another shot early in the season. He batted .167 and played his way off the MLB roster by the third week of April. Kelenic’s only MLB appearance after that was as a pinch runner on July 30.
Things were equally bleak in Triple-A. The 25-year-old hit .213/.286/.309 with only four homers while striking out at a 27.6% clip with Gwinnett. Kelenic has never found sustained MLB success but had reliably hit Triple-A pitching until this year. As a former sixth overall pick, he’ll get minor league offers, but it’d be a surprise if he commands a major league contract.
The Braves grabbed Díaz off waivers from the Dodgers in early September. They had roster space to burn and wanted a look at a former All-Star closer who had recorded 28 saves with Cincinnati just last season. Díaz had an uphill path to a 2026 bullpen spot and certainly didn’t do much to convince the Braves to keep him around. He walked five batters and gave up five runs (four earned) in 2 2/3 innings. Díaz had a nightmare season between three teams, giving up 17 runs over 17 2/3 big league frames. He also struggled to a 5.61 ERA across 25 2/3 Triple-A innings.
Díaz made $4.5MM this year in his first trip through arbitration. He would’ve made something close to or matching that if he were tendered a contract. That’s an easy pass for the team coming off the season he had. Díaz has never had strong command, and his velocity and strikeouts have dipped since his excellent first two MLB campaigns. The 29-year-old could also be in minor league deal territory.
The Braves acquired Dunning from the Rangers in July. It was a salary dump for Texas and one of a number of buy-low fliers that Atlanta took as members of their pitching staff kept dropping to injuries. Dunning was an up-and-down reliever for the Braves and gave up 12 earned runs in 10 innings. León, a longtime third or fourth catcher, finished the season on the MLB roster after Sean Murphy underwent hip surgery. He appeared in five games and went 1-12. Williams got into 45 contests as the last man off the bench and designated position player pitcher in blowouts. He hit .129 and owns a career .212/.270/.280 slash over 349 plate appearances.
Braves Designate John Brebbia For Assignment
The Braves announced Monday morning that they’ve designated right-hander John Brebbia for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to righty Alexis Diaz, whom Atlanta claimed off waivers yesterday. Diaz has formally reported to the club. Atlanta also optioned right-hander Rolddy Munoz to Triple-A Gwinnett and recalled right-hander Connor Seabold in his place.
Atlanta only selected Brebbia to the big league roster on Aug. 29. This brief stay marks his second stint with the Braves, as he also joined them for the final month or so of the 2024 season. Brebbia pitched in three games this time around, yielding three runs on six hits (two homers) and a walk with six strikeouts. The resulting 7.71 ERA matched the mark he’d logged in 18 2/3 innings with the Tigers prior to being cut loose in Detroit.
The 2025 season marks a second consecutive season of rough results for Brebbia, but his struggles really only extend a bit more than the past calendar year. The right-hander pitched pretty well for the first three-plus months of the 2024 season with the White Sox before melting down around the time of the All-Star break. Brebbia surrendered 18 runs in his final 18 1/3 innings last year, ballooning his ERA nearly two runs up to 5.86.
Brebbia was reliable bullpen arm in St. Louis and San Francisco from 2017-23. He carried a career 3.53 ERA, 26% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate (336 2/3 innings) into last year’s All-Star break. Even with his struggles late last year and throughout the 2025 season, the 35-year-old Brebbia has a solid 4.04 ERA in 378 1/3 big league innings. He’s collected four saves and 62 holds while striking out 25.6% of his opponents against a solid 7.5% walk rate.
Brebbia will now head to outright waivers or be released. He’ll head into the offseason and likely latch on as a minor league signee with a non-roster invitation to spring training somewhere.
Braves Claim Alexis Diaz
The Braves have claimed Alexis Diaz off waivers from the Dodgers, according to David O’Brien of The Athletic. Atlanta has space available on its 40-man roster, so no corresponding move is necessary to bring Diaz into the organization.
Diaz, 29 later this month, was traded to the Dodgers by the Reds earlier this year after surrendering eight runs in six innings of work prior to the deal. Los Angeles stashed Diaz at Triple-A to try and get him right, but he struggled to an 8.10 ERA in 11 appearances with Oklahoma City and posted a 5.00 ERA in nine outings for the big league club before being designated for assignment last week to make room for Ben Rortvedt on the 40-man roster. In all, Diaz has made 15 appearances in the majors this year with a 7.80 ERA, a 16.9% strikeout rate, and a 9.9% walk rate across 15 innings of work with the Reds and Dodgers.
Those lackluster numbers are a major fall from grace for the right-hander, who burst onto the scene with Cincinnati back in 2022 when he posted a dazzling 1.84 ERA in 59 outings and finished fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting. He followed that up by making an All-Star appearance and recording 37 saves as the Reds’ primary closer in 2023, and after two seasons in the big leagues Diaz had an exceptional 2.47 ERA with a 3.42 FIP, a 31.2% strikeout rate, and a 12.8% walk rate. Despite that shaky control, Diaz’s overpowering strikeout stuff was enough to blow past hitters and get elite results.
All of that made him one of the most impressive young relievers in the sport during the first few years of his career, but cracks began to show last season. Diaz surrendered three runs while recording just one out in his first outing of the year, and things didn’t improve much from there as he posted an 8.68 ERA in the month of May. A strong September where he did not allow an earned run helped to salvage his overall season numbers, and he finished the year with a 3.99 ERA and 4.28 FIP. Even that final month of the year saw him strike out just 24.2% of his opponents, however, and his season-long strikeout rate of 22.7% suggested a real step backwards in terms of raw stuff.
Given the question marks raised over the past two years, it’s fair to wonder whether the right-hander will eventually be able to turn things around and live up to the promise he showed in his first years with the Reds. The Braves will try to unlock that previous form through he rest of the year ahead of the offseason, when Diaz will be eligible for arbitration for the second time after making $4.5MM last season. Perhaps Diaz will wind up being a non-tender candidate, though it’s also certainly possible that Atlanta will be intrigued enough by his track record to keep him in the organization. Atlanta has been quite active on the waiver wire this year as they look to add talent in the midst of a lost season, with Ha-Seong Kim standing out as their most notable addition by far.
Dodgers Designate Alexis Díaz For Assignment
The Dodgers announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Ben Rortvedt, a move that was previously reported. In corresponding moves, they optioned infielder Alex Freeland and designated right-hander Alexis Díaz for assignment.
Díaz, 28, was Cincinnati’s closer not too long ago but has fallen on hards times lately. In 2023, he racked up 37 saves for the Reds. He posted a 3.07 earned run average over his 67 1/3 innings. His 12.6% walk rate was too high but he struck out 30.1% of batters faced. He kept it going in 2024 but with some signs of worry. He added another 28 saves with a 3.99 ERA but his strikeout rate dropped all the way to 22.7%.
Despite the trend lines moving the wrong direction, the Reds still tendered him a contract. He had qualified for arbitration for the first time going into 2025, with exactly three years of service. He and the Reds avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $4.5MM salary.
Things have gone from bad to worse this year. He started the season on the injured list due to a hamstring strain. He was reinstated by mid-April but the Reds had Emilio Pagán closing games and didn’t commit to Díaz retaking the ninth inning job. Díaz then allowed eight earned runs in his first six innings with just three strikeouts but five walks, in addition to hitting two batters.
The Reds optioned him to the minors at the start of May. Things didn’t get much better down on the farm. In 13 2/3 innings for Louisville, he had a 22.9% strikeout rate but walked 12 opponents, a 17.1% clip. He hit another two batters and also uncorked two wild pitches. The Reds then traded him to the Dodgers in what was essentially a salary dump deal. The player they got back, right-hander Mike Villani, was a 22-year-old with just two professional innings under his belt at the time.
The Dodgers initially sent Díaz to their Arizona facilities to try to get him back on track. His small sample of major league work since then has been decent enough. In nine innings, he has allowed five earned runs via seven hits, two walks and hitting two batters while striking out nine. But he has also thrown ten Triple-A innings, allowing nine earned runs via seven hits, eight walks and hitting three batters while striking out ten.
It seems that the Dodgers have seen enough and are willing to risk losing Díaz to another club. It will be interesting to see if there’s any interest in a claim. The short-term benefits would be minimal. Now that it’s September, Díaz wouldn’t be postseason eligible with a claiming club. He’s a likely non-tender candidate, given this year’s struggles.
On the other hand, there is theoretical upside. Due to spending most of this year in the minors, Díaz can still be controlled for another three years after this one. It also means he won’t be able to command a notable arbitration raise for the 2026 season. If some club out there sees a path to getting him back on track, perhaps they would consider grabbing him now. Tendering him a contract for $4-5MM next year would be akin to signing someone like Ryne Stanek or Jonathan Loáisiga, who signed one-year deals in that range last offseason.
Though if the Dodgers can’t figure him out, that doesn’t leave a lot of hope for other clubs. And he is still owed about $580K this year, which is a decent amount for a struggling reliever who can’t even help in the postseason. If he passes through waivers unclaimed, he will almost certainly stick with the Dodgers as non-roster depth. Since he has three years of service, he will have the right to elect free agency. But since he has less than five, he would have to forfeit that remaining money in exercising that right.
Freeland came into the year as one of the club’s top prospects. He got called up in late July as several infielders were dealing with injuries. He slashed just .190/.292/.310 in his first 97 plate appearances and a few infielders have come off the IL in the interim. He’ll make way for the club to carry three catchers, at least for as long as Will Smith is injured. It’s not uncommon for prospects to struggle when first promoted, so Freeland could still be a big part of the club’s future, but he’ll head back to the minors for now.
Photo courtesy of Aaron Doster, Imagn Images
Dodgers Place Tanner Scott On Injured List
July 23: Scott informed reporters (including MLB.com’s Sonja Chen) after last night’s game that his MRI results revealed only inflammation in his elbow and no structural damage. Scott indicated that he’ll be shut down for a few days before he begins a throwing program, but was confident that he would return to the big league mound this season.
July 22: The Dodgers announced that reliever Tanner Scott has gone on the 15-day injured list with elbow inflammation. Los Angeles recalled Alexis Díaz to take his spot in the bullpen.
This was more or less guaranteed when Scott departed last night’s appearance with what manager Dave Roberts called a “sting” in his forearm. That’s a concerning note but Roberts sounded more optimistic today than he had last night. The skipper told reporters (including Alden González of ESPN) that Scott felt “much better” today. The Dodgers are still awaiting results of an MRI before they’re fully off the hook, but there’s reason to hope they avoided a worst-case situation.
Scott is in the first season of a four-year deal. It has been an underwhelming year for last winter’s top free agent reliever. Scott owns a 4.19 ERA through 45 2/3 innings. His 27.2% strikeout rate and career-low 6% walk percentage are both better than league average. The biggest culprit in his middling earned run average is a huge spike in hard contact — and correspondingly, in home runs. Scott has blown an MLB-high seven leads while recording 19 saves and eight holds.
The Dodgers were prioritizing a high-leverage reliever even before Scott’s injury. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tied L.A. to essentially all the top bullpen trade candidates over the weekend. Evan Phillips has already been lost for the season. Blake Treinen has been out since mid-April with a forearm injury. He’s expected back in the next few days. Michael Kopech will be out into late August at the earliest with a meniscus tear. Dodgers relievers rank 24th in the majors with a 4.35 earned run average.
Michael Kopech Undergoes Surgery On Torn Meniscus
5:00pm: Kopech underwent surgery to address a torn meniscus in his right knee, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. The righty is expected to be able to return before the end of the season.
11:55am: The Dodgers announced today that right-hander Tyler Glasnow has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list, a move that was reported a few days ago. Righty Alexis Díaz was optioned to the minors to open an active roster spot and righty Michael Kopech was transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot.
It’s a bit of a worrisome development for Kopech. He was only placed on the 15-day IL on July 1st, retroactive to June 28th, due to right knee inflammation. At that time, both the pitcher himself and manager Dave Roberts downplayed the severity. “I think we’re all hopeful it will be on the shorter end of it,” Roberts said last week, per Alden González of ESPN.
Either that comment wasn’t fully candid or something has changed since then, as this transfer now means that Kopech is ineligible to return until late August. The Dodgers haven’t yet provided any specific information about how long they expect Kopech to be out but the transfer provides at least a best-case scenario.
That’s an unfortunate development for both Kopech and the Dodgers. He also started the season on the IL due to a shoulder impingement and missed more than two months. He was healthy long enough to give the Dodgers seven shutout innings before going back on the IL again.
For the Dodgers, it’s yet another in a long line of injuries. They’ve been moving players on and off the IL all throughout the year, particularly on the pitching side. Even with Glasnow coming off the shelf today, they still have 11 arms on the IL. The bullpen is without Kopech, Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol and Michael Grove. Phillips and Grove had major surgeries and won’t be coming back this year.
If Kopech can return in August or September, then he could still be a part of the club’s bullpen down the stretch and into the postseason. Regardless, the Dodgers figure to add some arms prior to the deadline. All contending clubs look for bullpen additions at this time of year and the Dodgers should be even more motivated by their mounting injuries.
For Kopech personally, he’s an impending free agent. He could still return and go into the open market with some juice, but it’s been a less than ideal platform season so far. He previously struggled to establish himself as a starter with the White Sox, partially due to injuries, but a recent bullpen move seemed to be a good transition for him.
He tossed 43 2/3 innings out of Chicago’s bullpen last year. The 4.74 ERA wasn’t great, nor was the 12.6% walk rate, but he struck out 30.9% of batters faced. He reached another level after getting traded to the Dodgers, tossing 24 innings with a 1.13 ERA. His 33% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate were both slight improvements, though he also benefited from a .167 batting average on balls in play and 90.9% strand rate. Nonetheless, he played a key role in the playoffs, tossing nine innings with three earned runs allowed as the Dodgers went on to win it all.
Another full season as a relief weapon would have positioned him for a nice market this winter. Now, however, it’s possible the ongoing health problems will tamp down his earning power. As mentioned, he seemingly still has time to get healthy and finish strong but his injury history list continues to run long. He missed the 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery and has since spent time on the IL due to a strained left hamstring, left knee strain, right shoulder inflammation and right knee inflammation. He managed to avoid the IL last year while working as a reliever but now has been bit by the injury bug a few times here in 2025.
Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images