Dodgers' Dave Roberts Admits He's Concerned With Edwin Diaz Amid Struggles

Edwin Díaz entered a game on Sunday for the first time since April 10.

He still hasn't recorded an out since April 10.

Díaz faced four Colorado Rockies in the bottom of the eighth inning with the Los Angeles Dodgers trailing 6-4. He gave up three singles and walked a batter before being pulled. He ended up being charged with three earned runs, ballooning his ERA to 10.50 on the year.

Díaz's average velocity on his pitches — which has been down early this season — sat at 95 mph. He threw a fastball as high as 97.1 mph, but as low as 92.8 mph.

"Just didn’t have any command," manager Dave Roberts said after the game, "and the velocity was down."

He admitted it was a concern.

“Today was a tough evaluation, I mean it really was," Roberts said, via SportsNet LA. "I know what it’s supposed to look like, and then when it doesn’t look like that, it gets a little concerning.”

Roberts said he'll have another conversation with Díaz, who has been adamant he's healthy and that this is a usual pattern for him early in the season. Either way, though, he doesn't look like the multi-time All-Star the Dodgers signed him to be.

“I’ll have a conversation with him, I know our training staff and pitching guys will and make sure that there is nothing to it," Roberts said. "Because the radar gun has been consistent and his velocity has been consistent, and it wasn’t there today. So I got to know more.”

The Dodgers are still learning Díaz, who's in the first month of a three-year, $69 million deal he signed with LA this offseason. For now, Roberts said he can only trust what the player is telling him.

“I think for us, it’s just going on what the training staff and the player tells me," Roberts said. "You got to trust him and believe that they feel good — and [especially] a veteran player like him. No one should know his body better than he does.

"But obviously today it just didn’t look sharp.”

Díaz hadn't pitched in eight days, which Roberts thinks could have factored into the struggles, saying there could be "some rust to that." Roberts also mentioned the fact that Díaz wasn't coming into a save situation, so there might have been a lack of adrenaline.

Either way, the Dodgers need to figure out what's going on with their high-paid closer.

"Talking to him today, he wanted to pitch regardless [of the situation]," Roberts said. "So hopefully it’s one of those things that he just hasn’t pitched in a while.”

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