The Dodgers spent $69 million to make Edwin Díaz the answer to a problem they thought they had already solved. After relying on Roki Sasaki to close games during the 2025 playoffs, Los Angeles went out and bought a proven closer. Instead, Díaz has been a disaster. He owns an 11.85 ERA, has blown multiple saves, and has looked nowhere near trustworthy in high-leverage spots. At this point, using him in October would already feel reckless. But after another ugly stretch in the minors, the bigger question is whether the Dodgers can even justify putting him on the postseason roster.

The Dodgers placed Edwin Díaz on the injured list with neck inflammation before sending him to Triple-A Oklahoma City for a rehab assignment. He had been trending toward a return around the Reds series, but those plans have now been thrown into doubt. Díaz was shelled in his latest outing, and the performance was ugly enough for an MLB insider to question whether he is even close to being ready for the majors.

“At this point, it’s a mechanical issue with Díaz. We’ve talked about the arm angle. It’s much lower, which means that instead of the vertical break for both the fastball and the slider, everything is moving kind of east to west, and not north to south. Or, in Edwin’s case, he has no idea where it’s going,” revealed Katie Woo on Dodgers Territory. “Sunday, it was made very clear that this is not a guy who’s ready or mechanically sound. He might be healthy enough to throw the baseball. He’s not mechanically sound for him to come up and really be a factor.”

And those problems were already showing up long before his latest rehab outing. After returning from his elbow injury on July 29, Díaz made nine appearances for the Dodgers and surrendered 11 earned runs on 16 hits and five walks across just 7⅔ innings. That left him with a 12.91 ERA and roughly a 2.74 WHIP during that stretch. He struck out nine batters, recorded three saves, and took two losses before landing back on the IL.

His Triple-A stint has done little to suggest those issues have disappeared. Díaz has pitched in four games since beginning the latest rehab assignment. He opened with a scoreless inning despite issuing a walk, then allowed a run and two walks three days later. He followed that with another scoreless appearance, giving up a hit and a walk, before everything unraveled on Sunday.

Díaz faced eight batters but retired only two. He could not escape the inning and was charged with five runs on two hits and three walks, wiping away much of the progress he appeared to have made in the previous outings.

Following that shaky rehab stretch, the Dodgers can no longer treat Díaz’s postseason spot as a guarantee. Dave Roberts has not ruled him out, but Díaz has another rehab outing scheduled for Wednesday, giving Los Angeles another chance to see whether there is enough improvement to trust him in October.

“We have to go with our best pitchers, as far as performance, talent, all that stuff,” Roberts said about Díaz, per the Los Angeles Times. “So my bet is that he will be [on the roster]. But there’s got to be some kind of evidence or something for us to sort of bet on. And so my bet is, yes, but we’ve still got to see something.”

Meanwhile, left-hander Kris Bubic will join the Dodgers during their series against the Reds. He recently completed a Triple-A rehab appearance, although he is not expected to be immediately activated from the 60-day IL.