If Edwin Diaz doesn’t improve, Roki Sasaki can be Dodgers’ playoff closer again

PHOENIX – What if Edwin Diaz’s problems were never the loose bodies that were removed from his elbow four months ago?

What if the Dodgers burned $69 million on Diaz a year after they flushed $72 million down the toilet to sign Tanner Scott?

What if Diaz is just cooked?

“I just don’t think right now there’s a clear-cut alternative,” manager Dave Roberts said.

The key words in that sentence: Right now.

Come the playoffs, Roberts will have another choice. He’ll have the option of deploying Roki Sasaki as his closer. 

Like he did last October.

Only this time, Sasaki’s inclusion on the roster won’t represent a stab in the dark for the Dodgers, who now have a better idea of what they have in the Japanese fireballer.

“I just think he’s a much better pitcher,” Roberts said.

Sasaki’s presence has to be a major source of comfort for the Dodgers considering how Diaz has looked since returning from the injured list.

Diaz has given up runs in three of the four games he has pitched.

His most recent setback was the most devastating, the Dodgers two outs from ending their season-worst losing streak at six games on Friday night, only for him to serve up a walk-off, two-run home run to Ryan Waldschmidt in a 4-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

To his credit, Diaz didn’t make any excuses for the slider he hung to cost his team the game.

“I’m a big league pitcher, so gotta make pitches,” Diaz said. “Next time when I come in, I gotta do better.”

At very least, the three-time All-Star is comfortable performing the high-wire act of taking down the last three out of the game, and that was the main reason Roberts moved him right back into the closer’s role when he was activated from the 60-day injured list.

Diaz was encouraged by how he averaged 97.3 mph with his fastball, a marked improvement from his season average of 95.9 mph. But the problems Diaz experienced with his slider were similar to the ones he had in the handful of games he pitched before he underwent surgery to clean up his elbow.

However, Roberts sounded as if he would allow Diaz to remain the team’s designated ninth-inning pitcher as he worked out his problems, as he said of the other high-leverage relievers: “They’re not throwing great, either.”

Sasaki remains in the Dodgers’ starting rotation and the plan is for him to remain there until the end of the regular season. 

He is on his best run as a starting pitcher in his two seasons with the Dodgers, as he has registered a 2.40 earned-run average and averaged six innings over his last five starts. 

Compared to the start of the season, Sasaki has elevated his baseline for performance, evidenced by how before Diaz’s implosion on Friday, he limited the Diamondbacks to two runs in six innings on a night in which he had difficulties getting his splitter over the plate.

“I think the difference is that I now have technique that I can solidly rely on,” Sasaki said in Japanese.

Sasaki threw 35 fastballs, and 17 of them were clocked at 99 mph or faster, and six of them 100 mph or faster.

Rotation spots could be at a premium soon, with Tarik Skubal joining the team, Blake Snell about to be activated from the injured list, and Tyler Glasnow on a minor-league rehabilitation assignment.

“Honestly, I’m not thinking about it at all,” Sasaki said. “What I’ve been asked to do remains the same.”

While Sasaki wants to finish the regular season as a starter, he previously sounded as if he would be open to moving the bullpen in the postseason.

“His performance (and) experience has made him better-equipped for whatever role,” Roberts said.

Improved physical strength could help Sasaki remain effective through multiple rounds of the playoffs, which was a problem last year. Sasaki has already pitched 105 innings, which positions him to beat the career-high 129 ⅓ innings he pitched for the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japanese league in 2022.

The Dodgers’ preference would be for Diaz to rediscover the qualities that made him an All-Star. But if he can’t, Sasaki will be locked, loaded, and ready to step in.

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