{"id":129345,"date":"2025-12-08T08:16:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T08:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=129345"},"modified":"2025-12-08T08:16:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T08:16:00","slug":"bullpen-bombshell-dodgers-reportedly-target-a-79-million-all-star-closer-to-dismantle-the-mets-bullpen-a-move-that-could-tilt-the-nl-balance-and-ignite-chaos-in-the-division-the-burning-q","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=129345","title":{"rendered":"BULLPEN BOMBSHELL: Dodgers reportedly target a $79 million All-Star closer to dismantle the Mets\u2019 bullpen, a move that could tilt the NL balance and ignite chaos in the division. The burning question\u2014will this blockbuster dominate or implode under pressure..ll"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Dodgers-Sign-Edwin-Diaz-Mets.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Dodgers-Sign-Edwin-Diaz-Mets.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Dodgers-Sign-Edwin-Diaz-Mets.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Dodgers-Sign-Edwin-Diaz-Mets.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Dodgers Predicted to Ruin Mets Bullpen, Sign $79 Million All-Star Closer\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Manager Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers signals the bullpen<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The main reason for the Dodgers\u2019 difficult season\u2014the bullpen. Somehow, they rode the 21st-ranked relief corps in baseball in terms of ERA (4.27) all the way to the top.<\/p>\n<p>But will they want to take that chance again?<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Mets Free Agent Reliever Predicted to Sign With Dodgers<\/h2>\n<p>Not if a prediction by <em>Just Baseball<\/em> 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 D\u00edaz.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cD\u00edaz, 31, has been baseball\u2019s best relief pitcher for nearly a decade now, and that doesn\u2019t look likely to change anytime soon,\u201d Treuden wrote in his prediction published by <em>Just Baseball<\/em> on Saturday. \u201cIn 62 games for the Mets in 2025, D\u00edaz 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 would\u2019ve been the third time in his career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>D\u00edaz is a three-time All-Star with 253 saves in his nine-year career. The one hiccup for D\u00edaz 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.<\/p>\n<p>The injury cost D\u00edaz 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.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>D\u00edaz Rare Bright Spot in Mets Disaster<\/h2>\n<p>In 2025, D\u00edaz 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.<\/p>\n<p>But from that date on, D\u00edaz appeared in 39 games and allowed an earned run in only three of them \u2014 and only one in each case. D\u00edaz allowed more than one earned run in only two outings, both in April.<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, the Dodgers\u2019 primary closer, Tanner Scott, had eight appearances of multiple earned runs, including three down the stretch, starting on August 31.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Signing Would Be Setback to Mets<\/h2>\n<p>According to an estimate by the sports business site Spotrac, D\u00edaz should command a four-year contract worth about $79 million, or an average annual salary of just under $20 million.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 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 D\u00edaz, they\u2019d be upgrading their bullpen with the very best arm on the market,\u201d wrote Treuden.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series with the 21st-ranked bullpen in baseball. They may not want to take that chance again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":129347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BULLPEN BOMBSHELL: Dodgers reportedly target a $79 million All-Star closer to dismantle the Mets\u2019 bullpen, a move that could tilt the NL balance and ignite chaos in the division. The burning question\u2014will this blockbuster dominate or implode under pressure..ll - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=129345\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BULLPEN BOMBSHELL: Dodgers reportedly target a $79 million All-Star closer to dismantle the Mets\u2019 bullpen, a move that could tilt the NL balance and ignite chaos in the division. The burning question\u2014will this blockbuster dominate or implode under pressure..ll - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series with the 21st-ranked bullpen in baseball. 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