Everything You Need To Know About Edwin Diaz’s Elbow Injury & Surgery! Timeline to Return to Dodgers

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Today, the Dodgers announced that Edwin Diaz is going to be out for an extended period of time. He is having elbow surgery on Wednesday.

[00:00:13]And he was originally placed on the 15-day injured list ahead of the Dodgers series finale against the Rockies at Coors Field. The team reported that Diaz has, quote, loose bodies in his right elbow and is going to undergo an arthroscopic surgery in his right elbow.

[00:00:34]It'll be Wednesday at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in Los Angeles. It's going to remove those loose bodies from his elbow. The Dodgers are saying that he's expected to return at some point in the second half of the season. So, I'm not going to take a victory lap here because to me, I I don't want to see any players injured, but this is what, if you've been watching this show every single day, I have been suspecting. If you watched the show earlier today before the news broke, what did I say? I said, "Shut Edwin Diaz down. The guy is not right. The velocity was low for his career. He's averaging 95.7 mph on his four-seam fastball this season. That's a mile and a half lower than his previous career low. So, red flags everywhere. Something's wrong."

[00:01:26]And after he blew that save on April 10th at Dodger Stadium by giving up three runs in the ninth inning, the Dodgers gave him 9 days off before he saw some action again. And on Sunday, his first appearance since that long break, he didn't retire any of the four batters that he faced. He allowed three runs. Dave Roberts had after the game, quote, "Today was a tough evaluation. I mean, it really was because I know what it's supposed to look like, and when it doesn't look like that, it gets a little concerning, really. And so, I'll have a conversation with him. I know our training staff and pitching guys will, and they're going to make sure there's nothing to it because the radar gun has been consistent and his velocity has been consistent in that, and he wasn't there tonight. I got to know more." So, Dave said he was concerned and that clearly leaked to the next day. And now with the Dodgers roster, you don't have a ton of healthy pitchers on their 40-man. River Ryan and Paul Gervase, they're on the injured list.

[00:02:30]Ron Marinaccio, he was just added to that 40-man roster in November. He did pitch Friday and Sunday for Triple-A Oklahoma City. So, Marinaccio was not an option. And then, the newest Dodger, righty Chase McDermott, the Dodgers pitcher that they picked up from the Baltimore Orioles last Thursday, he had pitched on Saturday for Triple-A. So, the one remaining pitcher was Jake Eder, who the Dodgers picked up from the Washington Nationals on April 1st.

[00:03:02]So, he hadn't pitched since last Thursday for OKC through 17 pitches in one inning, gave up a couple runs on three hits. So, he hasn't been great in three games with the Comets. He's given up two runs in five and a third innings, three strikeouts and two walks, but he's a fresh arm, and that's what they're looking for. And we know where the Dodgers sit right now, and that is as a team that is playing for October, that's playing for a three-peat. And before the doomers step in and say, "Edwin Diaz is a bust. Why did they give Edwin Diaz $69 million?

[00:03:38]What is Hernandez doing talking Andrew Friedman and the front office into signing Edwin Diaz?" I will say this, that obviously, ideally, Edwin Diaz is healthy for the duration of the season, but just think about this for a second. Could it cost you some games in April, May, June, July, August, September? Sure could cuz Edwin Diaz, when he's right, can rack up 50-plus saves for you. He also simplifies the bullpen where you're not working from the back end in leverage situations.

[00:04:14]Meaning that Dave Roberts doesn't have the luxury now to use guys that really are at the level of closing games and getting those final three outs, the Tanner Scotts of the world and the Blake Trynens of the world. He's going to have to call on those guys to get critical saves at the end of games. Because, look, the truth is, you can have the most high-leverage game-deciding moments against the seventh and eighth and ninth-inning lineups, and that's always going to be a decision he's going to have to make. I mean, if you're facing the top of the order in the seventh or eighth inning, you're going to have to go to your high-leverage guys, and then who do you close the game with? So, the way that I think that if you're looking at this from a positive standpoint, stay with the positive, and then we'll go to the negative, okay?

[00:04:58]The positive is one, if Edwin Diaz pitched this entire season and he wasn't at 100%, and he was just pitching because he had signed that big contract, so he felt like he had to live up to it, so he was pushing past his health limits, then by the time that the Dodgers made it to the postseason, maybe you would have had an out-of-gas, injured Edwin Diaz. Now, like I've said for the last couple of weeks, they needed treat Edwin Diaz like they treated Blake Snell last season in that you do not push him through anything.

[00:05:32]And now their hand is forced because he's going to go surgery, but now we could see an Edwin Diaz that is going to be similar to Blake Snell in that, yes, he's going to have to have surgery, and that is something that you don't want to play with, but he hopefully will be fresh for the postseason. So, the positive is that you're not going to burn Edwin Diaz down to the ground in the regular season. And then, two, then two, this happened early enough in the season where he is going to have enough time to return and hopefully become the pitcher that he's been for most of his career cuz I've got news for you.

[00:06:06]The knee clearly is giving him issues.

[00:06:09]The elbow gave him some issues, and this version of Edwin Diaz was not going to be dominant in the postseason. So, something had to be done, and that something was surgery. You hate to see it because I was looking forward to hearing Timmy Trumpet Narco and getting down with the trumpets all summer long.

[00:06:28]That's not going to be the case. We will not see Edwin Diaz until after the All-Star break. Here, let's listen to Dave Roberts, who talked about everything that transpired because I know there's people out there that are saying, "Oh, Edwin Diaz has been pitching through this, and he knew about this." A lot of times with this type of injury, where you've got this this issue in the elbow, well, a lot of those situations are you don't feel it until you do. And anytime it goes loose bodies, it is asymptomatic until all of a sudden you feel it, and then it starts to spiral. I think that they are going to do closer by committee, but think about this, since Edwin Diaz blew his save, well, hey, there's been two saves recorded.

[00:07:20]Both of those were from Alex Vesia. So, as long as Tanner Scott, who has a sub-2 ERA, he's pitched a lot better with this role where he doesn't have to be that push-button everyday closer. I think this makes a lot more sense for him to just stay in that high-leverage role and give it to Alex Vesia. I see some comments here. First of all, let's read some comments here. We got uh Terry Hastigals, Dodgers Nation After Dark.

[00:07:45]Hello. #language. We got Tom Vernia, DMac, what do you think about bringing Kopech back? He is still a free agent.

[00:07:52]I'll uh you know, I'm going to dive into that. I mean, I There's a reason why a guy like that isn't signed. So, I mean, to to expect that Michael Kopech is going to come back and solve the Dodgers' problems is unrealistic. But, hey, if he's looking to come back and he's going to throw, I'm sure the Dodgers would be interested in being there. We got Nico Suave, Don Crushing.

[00:08:13]Don Crushing would be a starter on almost every team in Major League Baseball. Once again, you were right, DMac. Hey, was I not right about Don Crushing, guys? I mean, come on now. Uh but, yeah, I see most you guys too talking about Graterol. The guy who's going to come back is going to be Brock Stewart. That's the guy who's going to come back at some point in May. By the way, people tell me I look like John Travolta trying to be in my silky shirt.

[00:08:37]It ain't that silky. I don't know why the camera It just, you know, it's a little uh I was doing something. I just threw something on cuz I don't feel good. I feel sick. It's because we're not going to have Narco by Timmy Trumpet. I was looking to get down at Dodger Stadium all summer long. We're going to have to wait till after the All-Star break. So, that is the timetable. Now, the other thing that you guys know crossed my mind was what does this mean as far as trades?

[00:09:05]Because, I mean, you bring up a guy named Jake Jake Eder, he's not going to be the guy to be eating innings really for long stretches for this team. I think that for him, he's just kind of a quick thing, but I I look at a Dodgers team that's going to stay fluid with