Dodgers beat Angels to the punch on buy-low bullpen upgrade in trade with Reds

Clearly the Dodgers need bullpen help more than the Angels do, as their billion dollar team only has Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia, Angels legend Luis García, Ben Casparius, Evan Phillips, Kirby Yates/ Michael Kopech coming back in due time and about seventeen other intriguing arms. Meanwhile, the Angels only have the worst bullpen in the league. They have absolutely no need for a 28-year-old, former All-Star with baseball pedigree who had 65 saves to merely seven blown saves from 2023-2024.

Dodgers beat Angels to the punch on buy-low bullpen upgrade in trade with Reds

Per Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman of The New York Post, the Dodgers traded for Alexis Díaz. The Cincinnati Reds will be receiving a 22-year-old pitching prospect named Mike Villani in return, who was not even one of LAD's top 30 prospects. Villani was a 13th round pick in the 2024 draft with two...count 'em...two innings pitched this season...at ROOKIE BALL. Clearly, this was the Reds just wanting to sever ties with Díaz, who they out-righted to Triple-A Louisville for the majority of the season.

The former closer last pitched in a major league game on April 30th, and allowed four home runs in only eight innings pitched for the Reds this season. Like with Kenley Jansen, Díaz had two massive blow-up games which inflated his numbers but he did his job in the other four appearances. With the Louisville Bats, Díaz has middling numbers -- in 13.2 innings pitched he has a 4.61 ERA, 5.80 FIP and 1.90 WHIP. However, he is the definition of a change of scenery pitcher and will almost definitely be a great addition for the Dodgers.

Is this a salary dump by Cincinnati? Nope! Díaz still has two more arbitration-eligible years after this one, and makes just $4.5 million. Could the Angels have fit him into their payroll and bullpen? For sure! Perry Minasian has filtered through about a dozen relievers in his quest to mitigate the losses caused by his atrocious bullpen, and this would have been such an easy move for him to make. It's safe to say Díaz could have been better for the Angels the rest of the season than any of Connor Brogdon, Héctor Neris or Hunter Strickland. Díaz, surrounded by Jansen, Robert Stephenson, Ryan Zeferjahn, Brock Burke and Reid Detmers, could have thrived in Anaheim.

For the Angels' rival to cheaply acquire Edwin Díaz' brother, who has outshone him at times the past couple years, is frankly nauseating.

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