The Los Angeles Dodgers became the first team in a quarter-century to win back-to-back World Series titles when they defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in seven games to cap the 2025 season. But it was a struggle to get there, winning the National League West by a narrow three games.
The main reason for the Dodgers’ difficult seasonâthe bullpen. Somehow, they rode the 21st-ranked relief corps in baseball in terms of ERA (4.27) all the way to the top.
But will they want to take that chance again?
Mets Free Agent Reliever Predicted to Sign With Dodgers
Not if a prediction by Just Baseball managing editor Eric Treuden proves accurate. His prognostication has the Dodgers adding a 13th contract of over $10 million per year by signing New York Mets free agent closer Edwin DÃaz.
“DÃaz, 31, has been baseballâs best relief pitcher for nearly a decade now, and that doesnât look likely to change anytime soon,” Treuden wrote in his prediction published by Just Baseball on Saturday. “In 62 games for the Mets in 2025, DÃaz recorded the final out in 48 of them while earning 28 saves along the way. He remained a strikeout machine as well, punching out 13.3 batters per nine innings and coming just two short of 100 for what wouldâve been the third time in his career.”
DÃaz is a three-time All-Star with 253 saves in his nine-year career. The one hiccup for DÃaz came in 2023 when he tore his right patellar tendon while celebrating a victory for his Puerto Rico team over the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.
The injury cost DÃaz the entire 2023 season. By 2025 he was back in vintage form, throwing 66 1/3 innings in 62 games with a stellar 1.63 ERA, second-lowest of his career.
DÃaz Rare Bright Spot in Mets Disaster
In 2025, DÃaz was a rare beacon of consistency in a season that saw the Mets endure an epic collapse, missing the playoffs altogether after sitting atop the NL East by 5 1/2 games as late as June 12.
But from that date on, DÃaz appeared in 39 games and allowed an earned run in only three of them â and only one in each case. DÃaz allowed more than one earned run in only two outings, both in April.
By contrast, the Dodgers’ primary closer, Tanner Scott, had eight appearances of multiple earned runs, including three down the stretch, starting on August 31.
Signing Would Be Setback to Mets
According to an estimate by the sports business site Spotrac, DÃaz should command a four-year contract worth about $79 million, or an average annual salary of just under $20 million.
The Mets, who are already positioned to be the second-highest payroll team entering 2026, behind only the Dodgers, should be able to accommodate that price tag. But if they get beaten to the punch by Los Angeles, the Mets are left with Devin Williams, who struggled in 2025 for the New York Yankees but signed for a three-year, $45 million deal with the Mets earlier this week.
“The Dodgers are in position to frustrate fans all over the world by throwing their money around and landing basically any of the best-available free agents this winter. In signing DÃaz, theyâd be upgrading their bullpen with the very best arm on the market,” wrote Treuden.
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