ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Dodgers downplayed expectations, but once again, they're making a big offseason splash.
Free-agent reliever Edwin Díaz and the Dodgers have agreed to a three-year, $69 million deal, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand on Tuesday morning. The club has not confirmed the deal.
Díaz opted out of the remaining two years and $38 million of his contract with the Mets to test free agency, so his new agreement essentially adds an extra year and $31 million guaranteed. The Mets offered Díaz three years and $66 million, with some deferrals, and expressed to the right-hander that they had room to offer him more money, a source told MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.
The No. 1 reliever on the market, Díaz originally signed a five-year, $102 million deal with New York prior to the 2023 season, which set a record for a relief pitcher.
After this past season, the Mets tendered a qualifying offer to Díaz that he declined. The QO, which would have paid him $22.025 million for 2026, attached Díaz to Draft compensation. As a team subject to the Competitive Balance Tax, the Dodgers would lose their second- and fifth-highest selections in the 2026 Draft, in addition to $1 million from their international bonus pool, should their deal with Díaz be completed. The Mets would receive a compensation pick after the fourth round.
This is the second straight offseason in which the Dodgers have splurged on a reliever. In previous years, the team had not typically spent big on the bullpen, but it has changed course with the addition of Tanner Scott (four years, $72 million) before the 2025 season and Díaz ahead of '26.
Scott struggled in his first season in L.A., posting a 4.74 ERA and blowing 10 saves, which led the Majors. The Dodgers believe that the 31-year-old left-hander will bounce back from the down year, but now they have another top option to close out games, as Díaz figures to slot into the closer's role.
"I still feel that last year was an outlier year for Tanner Scott," manager Dave Roberts said Monday. "Not to say that he needs to be a dedicated closer. But I feel that he's going to be much improved next year. There's some things physically that he was dealing with -- some that were talked about, some that weren't.
"But, yeah, I think that getting a high-leverage reliever is never a bad thing."
Díaz, 31, has re-established himself as one of MLB's elite closers since returning from the torn patellar tendon in his right knee -- suffered during a celebration in the World Baseball Classic -- that forced him to miss the entire 2023 season.
In 2025, Díaz notched 28 saves for the Mets with a 1.63 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings. He had the second-lowest ERA among relievers who threw at least 50 innings (behind only Aroldis Chapman's 1.17). His 38% strikeout rate ranked second (behind Mason Miller's 44.4%), and his 13.3 K/9 ranked fifth.
Over his nine big league seasons with the Mariners and Mets, Díaz has turned in some of the best seasons ever by a reliever.
In 2018 with Seattle, Díaz recorded 57 saves, tied for the second-most all time in a single season behind only Francisco Rodríguez's MLB-record 62 in 2008. That prompted the Mets to swing a blockbuster trade for Díaz (and Robinson Canó) in the offseason.
Díaz enters the 2026 season with 253 saves in his Major League career, with a 2.82 ERA and 839 strikeouts in 519 1/3 innings. Only three active pitchers have more saves: Kenley Jansen (476), Craig Kimbrel (440) and Aroldis Chapman (367).
The Dodgers had indicated that they might not make as many notable moves as they did in previous offseasons. But they saw a chance to improve by adding Díaz, and they seized it.
"We’re not just gonna sign a reliever to sign a reliever, knowing that different bullpen constructions can be successful in different ways," general manager Brandon Gomes said Monday. "And certainly over the last few years, we’ve done it differently each year. So just making sure we’re adding guys we feel like are impact talent.”
Aside from Scott, the Dodgers' bullpen as a whole scuffled in 2025. It led the Majors with 657 2/3 innings, but combined for a 4.27 ERA. The unit lacked stability at the back end, which was especially apparent when Roki Sasaki shifted to relief for the postseason and greatly improved the 'pen.
Sasaki's stint as the postseason closer was always expected to be temporary, rather than a long-term solution. Now the Dodgers appear to have the stability they need in save situations as they eye a third straight championship.