Edwin Díaz has been one of the game’s best closers in the last decade. Jason Mowry / Getty Images
The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 MLB Winter Meetings.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are loading up again, signing the top closer on the market Tuesday.
The team agreed to a three-year, $69 million deal with three-time All-Star Edwin Díaz, league sources told The Athletic. The $23 million average annual value is a new record for a reliever, topping the mark Díaz set in his five-year, $102.5 million deal with the Mets after the 2022 season. Deferrals took the present-day value of that deal below $95 million and he opted out with two years left on that contract to re-enter the market.
Díaz ranked 11th on The Athletic’s Big Board and was projected to sign a four-year, $84 million contract this winter.
For nearly a decade, Díaz has been one of the game’s best closers. He debuted with the Seattle Mariners in 2016, saved 57 games in 2018 and was traded to New York ahead of the 2019 season. He rebounded from a rocky start to his tenure in Queens to prove he could excel in a major market.
With a high-90s fastball and one of the game’s most devastating sliders, he’s struck out just under 40 percent of opposing hitters throughout his career. Four times he has posted an ERA below 2.00, and he’s pitched well in limited postseason opportunities.
Díaz has stayed largely healthy during his career, save for the freak knee injury he suffered while playing in the World Baseball Classic in 2023. He rebounded from that injury with a solid 2024 before performing more like his usual self in 2025.
The Dodgers have actively sought relief help this winter, engaging with the likes of Raisel Iglesias, Ryan Helsley and Devin Williams before they signed elsewhere. As of this week, a source said, they were still expressing interest in Robert Suarez to help bolster a group that already added Tanner Scott on a four-year, $72 million deal last offseason. While the team has publicly backed Scott after a 4.74 ERA in 61 appearances in 2025, their actions showed a desire to keep pushing to improve.
As Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Monday, “I think that getting a high-leverage reliever is never a bad thing.”
