Dodgers Territory - Edwin Diaz Signs with Dodgers! What's Next for LA?

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

Alanna Rizzo and Clint Pasillas react to the news of the Los Angeles Dodgers signing top free agent closer Edwin Diaz to a multi-year deal. A look at the current bullpen, as it stands, and thoughts on what could be coming next for the LA front office.Check out DT merch for the holidays at dodgersterritoryshop.com/promo/HOLIDAYUse promo code HOLIDAY at checkout and save!Support Guidry's Guardian at guidrysguardian.orgFind Clint on YouTube at youtube.com/@alldodgersSubscribe to Dodgers Territory on YouTubeRate and review our podcast on Apple and SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Daniel Alarcon, and this is my friend. This is much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far, but I'm John Green, co-host at the podcast The Away End, with my old friend Daniel. On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to The Away End with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear? I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success. Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well-being at soundedouttogether.org. That's sounded outtogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal.

Hi, I'm Danielle Robe, host of Bookmarked, the podcast by Reese's Book Club. And this week, we are talking about a monster. Or maybe the woman who refused to be one. I'm sitting down with Maggie Gyllenhaal to unpack her new film, The Bride. And trust me, this isn't your grandmother's bride of Frankenstein. What I was more interested in was the monstrousness inside of each of us. You can spend your life running from those things, or you can turn around and shake hands with them.

Listen to Bookmarked, the Reese's Book Club podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I wake up and I see the all-important, the almighty Jeff Passon reporting the Dodgers are landing Edwin Diaz on a perfect deal for the Dodgers. And welcome to an impromptu, brand new live episode of Dodgers territory. It is the week of winter meeting. Stuff is happening. Stuff I did not think would happen. Clint Paseas. I am Alana Rizzo. We're going to be with you guys for the next 15, 20 minutes, talking all things sugar because Edwin Diaz apparently is coming to Los Angeles. Thanks for being

here, you guys. Join us in the chat. Rate us five stars. Like, subscribe, all of the things. We just recently surpassed 13,000 subs trying to get to 15,000. Like us on YouTube wherever you get your podcast. All right, Clint, let's get two at the big ticket. Edwin Diaz is a doyer. Didn't see that coming, Riz. At least that is the report. What are you thinking? What's the first thing you thought of? This has not been made official by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Jeff Passon reporting that the closers deal with L.A. is for three years, $69 million. Sources telling ESPN, the Dodgers who were targeting bullpen help this winter, got the best closer on the market, setting a new AAV record for relievers. Relievers are starting to get pissade, and Edwin Diaz is one of those. Your reaction? Yeah, I was shocked. I was absolutely shocked this morning.

decided to step in a little bit. Your boy went to bed late later yesterday, and I wake up and I see the all-important, the almighty Jeff Passon reporting, and it wasn't a jet pass and it wasn't a fake Jeff passing account, reporting the Dodgers are landing Edwin Diaz on a perfect deal for the Dodgers. We knew, I mean, the reports were Edwin Diaz looking for somewhere in that five-year deal, that five-year range and $100 million. I was like, there's no way the Dodgers are going to that. However, you bring it down to three years, lower that commitment, crank up the money.

And this is what the Dodgers have been trying to do with players for years. The big difference now, this is every bit, I mean, it's been a destination for a year, for years. It's been a destination for at least a decade. But Alana, now this is the preeminent destination for baseball players and want to come here. So I love every bit of this. You get your closer. I'm shocked.

I was absolutely shocked. What about you? I did not think that they would do this. I think the reason that it came together is because A, Andrew Friedman's a genius. B, I think Edwin Diaz really wanted to come to Los Angeles and he was willing to lower the years. I'll take a higher AAV for three years than a lower AAV for five. I'm absolutely in on this. I love this.

There are deferrals, of course, because it is Los Angeles. And that's the way that we're doing things right now. But I'm okay with that. Joel Sherman, who is the columnist for the New York Post. Of course, he's also on MLB Network sources say deferrals. on Diaz's deal with the Dodgers, 4.5 million annually for the three years for luxury tax purposes will calculate at roughly $21.1 million. I don't care. The man's going to get his money. It's guaranteed money in baseball, which I like for the player. I don't care if you get it at the front end,

the back end, you know, Bonnie Bonilla end, whatever you do, I will take that. And how about that? I get my closer. I thought it was really important that the Dodgers didn't have that revolving door at the back end of the bullpen. And man, what was already a good bullpen, not a great bullpen. But if he can do what he did, Clint, before he got hurt and what he did last season, I'm in. Yeah, I mean, obviously we know this is, there's a reason he was the top closer on the market. It's because he is very good at his job. He has nasty stuff.

He still strikes people out. Obviously, the people in the chat, very, very happy. I'm sure just as many people as shocked as we were this morning. But you're talking about the quality of that bullpen. And this is coming off of, yeah, he didn't have a great season last year, did Tanner Scott, but still the expectation. He's going to rebound. He's going to be something closer to what we saw in his time with Miami, a little bit through San Diego as well.

But you look at the way bullpen is stacking up right now, and some people might be upset. I throw a Ronan cop in there, but he is technically on the 40 men and a lefty reliever. But having Edwin Diaz is at the top of that right-handed side of the ledger, Alana, just does feel a lot better. but you have people that can get you saves. I think, I would hope, you know, Diaz is going to be somebody that's more going to pick up the lion's share of save opportunities rather than need to be the de facto every single time closer. You know, I mean, it's still going to be 98% of the time, but you have somebody in Tanner Scott who can go out there and hopefully close a game for you, Blake Trine and Alex Vescia, Bruce Darkrador all coming back. Ben Casparius will be in that bullpen. Justin Rebleski should be in that bullpen as well.

It is a pretty dangerous mix of arms there. And I'll pump the brakes a little bit because it was a little under a year ago. You and I were at spring training talking about that vaunted bullpen, how good that bullpen was going to be. It turned out that maybe sometimes a good, maybe sometimes and maybe shit. Ultimately, they end up going out there and winning. I think the biggest reason, and I'll let you digest all of that, I think the biggest reason the Dodgers felt the need to have to get this deal done is They don't want to have to force Yamamoto to go out there on less than one day's rest, less, you know, after throwing 100 pitches,

Yamamoto should never have to relieve a game in the postseason again, or at least for the next three World Series wins that the Dodgers have. Yeah, I think that's what you said. You know, when you see Yamamoto warming up in the 18th inning of that unbelievably long game, and then you have Yamamoto doing all that he did in game seven, that's enough for me to say, man, we need a closer, right? Obviously, we didn't have Alex Vesia. Things would have been very different if Alex Vescia was able to be on the World Series roster.

He was exactly where he needed to be. But he's back. And that's a good thing, right? Obviously, you hope that Tanner Scott can figure it out. Kirby Yates is likely done as far as L.A., for sure. Yeah. Maybe baseball, potentially. But that's that this is a big deal.

This is nice. I'll take, I didn't want to sign Edwin Diaz for the long term, not a five-year deal. I wasn't on board for over a hundred million for a closer. But I'm on board for a three-year $69 million deal for him. Absolutely. Especially with Bessie back in there, Tanner Scott, hopefully with the rebound, Anthony Bonda, taking us a step forward.

You know, we'll probably see Evan Phillips on the roster in the second half of the season when that 60-day I-L stuff is all figured out or whatever. I like this bullpen. I like this team. I have, and I think we just got a lot better. Yeah. And the timeline of this. whole thing is weird because I think everybody

even saw our buddy Ken Rosenthal on with the foul boys who are absolutely holding it down at the winter meetings there. So shout out to everybody, Scotty Braun, A.J. Prisinski, Mark Weiner, Jeremy Meyer, all the guys that are

bringing you guys some great content over with our friends at the foul territory. But looking at the timeline of this, nobody saw this deal coming. Even Ken, the guy who knows all, did not see this deal coming. And this comes from, of the many kind of Mets people and baseball people that are crashing out, as the kids say, from the signing. Looking at this timeline here, you know, the Mets were kind of given or expecting an opportunity to get a rebuttal there. Their offer was as high as three

years and $66 million, so not that far apart. But, you know, according to Anthony Tacomo, Diaz did not care to try to work something out with the Mets. And, you know, this guy here, Tyler Ward saying, is it pretty much he just kind of got tired of being with the Mets, tired of losing? That's kind of the opinion he was putting together there. Build an exceptional product and the players will come. I think that's a situation. You're absolutely right. And I think the thing is, too, it's like he was offered more.

for multiple reports, not only from Anthony Tacoma, who does a tremendous job, but also Matt, why am I, Steve Gelbs, who covers the MET for SNY, that said, you know, the money was there. It wasn't a money issue. It was more of like, where am I going to have the best opportunity to win? Where am I going to have the best opportunity to succeed and get the ring that has been eluding the New York Mets for quite some time? And L.A. is a destination. We've discussed it several times.

and you said it at the top of our show, everybody wants to be in L.A. People, guys are willing to, again, he's not, listen, the man's not broke, okay? I mean, the money was a little bit more in New York, but he's still getting absolutely paid in Los Angeles. But guys are willing to change up their deal, work with different types of language, be able to construct a deal differently to go to L.A. And that's important. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, again, you know this team is primed to, uh, to at least get to a World Series again in 2026.

If you want to win a baseball game, if you want to win a World Series, you want to win a ring, this is a place you want to go top to bottom. And I'm sure it helps a billion percent that Edwin Diaz's brother, Alexis pitched here last year, had nothing but great things to say about it. David Vassay had reported about it as well. I forgot to put the tweet in for the show here. But that is absolutely another one of the factors. I would imagine another one of the factors that plays in to Edwin coming here.

We'll find out more. We'll find out more once he actually meets with media and it becomes official. But as of now, it seems like it's as official as official as it can be. Of course, with passing on it, you're already seeing MLB, you know, media talking about it. And they usually don't touch things. New York is already saying it. You know what I mean? Like the people that cover the Mets have already basically confirmed it.

The Dodgers have not, and that's fine. But the Mets are saying he's not coming back and he's headed to L.A. Bye. We're going to talk. Yeah, see ya. We're going to talk about what's next coming up. Don't forget, guys, the holidays are upon us. They are here.

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You can scan that QR code. just go to Dodgers Territory Shop.com. I'm John Green. You may know me as the author of The Fault and Our Stars and now I guess also is the co-host of The Away End, a brand new world soccer podcast. I'm Daniel Alarcon, a writer and journalist, and John and I have known each other since we were kids.

My first World Cup was Mexico 86. I was nine years old. I watched every game and I fell in love. On our new podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. For us, soccer... Football.

...is a story we've shared for over 30 years since Daniel was the star player on our high school soccer team. Very debatable. And I was their most loyal and sometimes only fan. I love this game. I love its history, its hope, its heartbreak, and above all, it's beauty. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the away end with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the iHeart Ration. on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Ever feel like you're being chased by the marriage police? Welcome to Boys and Girls, the podcast where dating isn't dating. Arranged marriage is basically a reality show, except the contestants are strangers and your entire family is judging. You're sipping coffee with one maybe,

grabbing dinner with another, and praying your karmic Ken or Barbie appears before your shelf life runs out. Trust me, I've been through this ancient and unshakable tradition. I jumped in, hoping to find love the right way, and instead I found chaos, cringe, and comedy. And now, I'm looking for healing. Boys and Girls dives into every twist and turn of the arranged marriage carousel,

the meat-awquard, the near-misses, the heartbreak, and let's not forget all the jokes. Listen to Boys and Girls on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your part. The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear? I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success.

Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well-being at soundedouttogether.org. That's sounded outtogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal. What is next for this team now? I didn't think this is big. Like, this is big. So what is left?

If anything. Yeah, I mean, this kind of changes everything for me because, you know, less than 24 hours ago, we hear Dave Roberts saying there's no real big splash we feel we need to make. And then you wake up, at least on the East Coast or the West Coast here, you wake up to Edwin Diaz in a Dodger uniform. So I don't know. I think anything is on the table. You know, there have been some kind of loose reports about Terek Scouble and maybe the Dodgers having a strong interest. I know it's not.

But, hey, why not? Why not us? Why not us? It's not our money. It's not our prospects. I get it. I get it. That's not happening.

But I say all we really, I mean, again, tomorrow season opens, I'm good. I'm happy with this team. A bona fide center fielder, a good defensive center fielder that. can can hit a little bit, I think would be like the icing on this wonderfully delicious cake with all the sugar. Or a versatile outfielder, you know, you see Scott Boris out there trying to sell Cody Bellinger doing his weird riddles at winter meetings saying that, you know, everybody kind of seems to be in on belly.

Maybe there's a reunion there. Hell, maybe the Dodgers say F it and find a way to get a, you know, short term high AavV deal with Bobauchet to come play second base. not that they necessarily need that, but then you kick Tommy out, Edmund out to the outfield. Dodgers are in the driver's seat now with this offseason. I think they could do pretty much anything they want. The big question is, do they need to do anything else?

Yeah, outfielder for sure. Hell, let's go bold. Go get Stephen Kwan and J. Ram. I'm going to go back on that Jose Ramirez bandwagon or that trade, trying to make it happen. But I don't know. I'm suddenly excited about it. about the soft season because I thought it was going to be drab, dreary, dull, boring.

And now I'm awake. I was, I was anticipating a sprinkle. We got a splash. Yeah. This is, yeah, this is a bolder. This is, you went from dropping pebbles into the damn, you know, into a lake to kicking off a whole damn boulder. Rosman saying, you got to go ahead and celebrate with a glass of wine today, Alana. I mean, I mean, it doesn't, I don't need an Edwin D.

Let's be honest. I don't need an Edwin for that. But sure, I'm in. Totally. Let's see what else. Another Dodgers live from Diane said we don't need anybody. I just saw that in the chat though. I don't know.

I'm not lying. We don't have to have anybody at this moment. Like, Diane, put it in the chat. Good to see you, as always, my friend. Who do you want? What's next for you then? I mean, we have a closer. What do you want, Diane?

Let us know. Yeah, I mean, you need an outfielder. That's one of the things they have definitely said. I don't know if it's going to be, or at least they have said they're going to any figure out the outfield mix, whatever that means. And that's very much an open-door interpretation that, you know, Andrew Friedman, Brandon Gomes can kind of work around, work with.

They like the guys they have internal, but we'd feel, including our friend Alex call, if you guys miss that, check out the interview we had with them yesterday. But they like the guys they have internal. They would also very much like to add somebody else. But I would imagine in terms of bullpen, this is probably it, right? Maybe Evan Phillips back. I mean, you're assuming that at some point you're getting Phillips back. You're assuming that Bruce Dark Gratterol, Bazook is going to pitch at some point.

You're, you get Alex back. Anthony Bond is going to take it to the next level. You know, you got Edwin Diaz. I mean, Tanner Scott, our bullpen's fine. Our bullpen just got a whole heck of a lot better. I agree. We need an outfielder. We need a center fielder.

But I'm not like, oh, my gosh, what are we going to do if we don't sign on? It's my point. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's a great spot, great position once again. As we've said, as we've maintained now for a while. But I don't know. I don't know how much more we could add to this. Dodgers, obviously, they make, I don't know if you could argue the biggest splash of the winter so far.

Another move, Kyle Schwarber returns to the Phillies. I don't know. I think the Toronto. Blue Jays signing cease is a pretty big deal. I think that's, I think that's really good for the Blue Jays. He came off a bad year. Yeah, but so, but that's, that's okay. So did Devin Williams.

We would have been fine with Devin Williams. Now he's the closer for the Mets. Not everyone's going to have a banner year every single year. I mean, Tay Oscar didn't have a great year. I would take Tay Oscar back. I mean, he may get moved, but I would take him back. I mean, listen, every year is not going to be lights out. Like, I would be, I would be fine.

I would be fine with that. So, um, the only other thing I can say, say is the Rocco Baldelli. We'll talk about it more on Thursday. It's headed to the Los Angeles Dodgers as a special assistant to Andrew Friedman and that group, good baseball man, good baseball minds. Obviously, he was the manager of the twins, got relieved of his duties because the twins were a mess. So he's coming to Los Angeles and that's good. He's a local guy here. Good, good baseball dude. So Dodgers keeps getting better. Has ties with Andrew Friedman, of course, from, you know, years in Tampa. Yeah. Absolutely. Clint and I are going to be back.

back normal time unless something happens tomorrow. We'll be back tomorrow. But if not, we'll be back normal time noon on Thursday. No, we might be later on Thursday, depending on how maybe. I think so, possibly. Let me do something. Don't ever let me talk about our schedule for the rest of our existence, okay? I am no longer speaking about our schedule because I'm always wrong. We will be back. We will be back Thursday for sure. Katie Wu will be joining us from the winter meetings, whether it is at 12 or at some point later in the afternoon, 12 o'clock Pacific time or later on the afternoon, depending on how that day is going, the day's news. The best way to know, hit that subscribe button, hit the notification bell.

Make sure you follow us on the social media at LAD territory. We always post, except for right now today. We always post when we're going to go live. But subscribe to the channel, hit that bell, and we will be live. All right. We'll see you guys. Thursday for sure, potentially tomorrow, like Clint said, subscribe so you know. All right, go Dodgers.

We just got a lot better. Bye. Bye. I'm Daniel Alarcon And this is my friend He's much more famous than I am I wouldn't go that far But I'm John Green

Co-host of the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel On our podcast The Away End We'll share with you the magic Of international football All leading up to the 2026 World Cup Together we'll find out why Of all the unimportant things

Football, Soccer is the most important Listen to the Away End with Daniel Alarcon and John Green On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear? I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to.

I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success. Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well-being at soundedouttogether.org. That's sounded outtogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal. Hi, I'm Danielle Robe, host of Bookmarked, the podcast by Reese's Book Club. And this week, we are talking about a monster. Or maybe the woman who refused to be one.

I'm sitting down with Maggie Gyllenhaal to unpack her new film, The Bride. And trust me, this isn't your grandmother's bride of Frankenstein. What I was more interested in was the monstrousness inside of each of us. You can spend your life running from those things, or you can turn around and shake hands with them. Listen to Bookmarked, the Reese's Book Club podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.