{"id":120778,"date":"2025-09-05T02:18:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T02:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/120778\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T02:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T02:18:07","slug":"dodgers-designate-alexis-diaz-for-assignment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/120778\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers Designate Alexis D\u00edaz For Assignment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dodgers announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Ben Rortvedt<\/a>, a move that was previously reported<\/a>. In corresponding moves, they optioned infielder Alex Freeland<\/a> and designated right-hander Alexis D\u00edaz<\/a> for assignment.<\/p>\n

D\u00edaz, 28, was Cincinnati\u2019s 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%.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 Pag\u00e1n<\/a> closing games and didn\u2019t commit to D\u00edaz retaking the ninth inning job. D\u00edaz then allowed eight earned runs in his first six innings with just three strikeouts but five walks, in addition to hitting two batters.<\/p>\n

The Reds optioned him to the minors at the start of May. Things didn\u2019t 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<\/a>, was a 22-year-old with just two professional innings under his belt at the time.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers initially sent D\u00edaz 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.<\/p>\n

It seems that the Dodgers have seen enough and are willing to risk losing D\u00edaz to another club. It will be interesting to see if there\u2019s any interest in a claim. The short-term benefits would be minimal. Now that it\u2019s September, D\u00edaz wouldn\u2019t be postseason eligible with a claiming club. He\u2019s a likely non-tender candidate, given this year\u2019s struggles.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, there is theoretical upside. Due to spending most of this year in the minors, D\u00edaz can still be controlled for another three years after this one. It also means he won\u2019t 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<\/a> or Jonathan Lo\u00e1isiga<\/a>, who signed one-year deals in that range last offseason.<\/p>\n

Though if the Dodgers can\u2019t figure him out, that doesn\u2019t 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

Freeland came into the year as one of the club\u2019s 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\u2019ll make way for the club to carry three catchers, at least for as long as Will Smith<\/a> is injured. It\u2019s not uncommon for prospects to struggle when first promoted, so Freeland could still be a big part of the club\u2019s future, but he\u2019ll head back to the minors for now.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Aaron Doster, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dodgers announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Ben Rortvedt, a move that was previously…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[34596,14709,27875,49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-120778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-alex-freeland","9":"tag-alexis-diaz","10":"tag-ben-rortvedt","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}