Anyone Else Worried About Diaz?

[JAllenJ]

Sam molls spring era could buy you w few nice pairs of on-sale chinos at the kenwood Jcrew

[Ron Madden]

Reds' miscues leads to tough first loss of '24

Closer Alexis Díaz blew the save as he gave up three runs in the top of the ninth inning.

“I lost the zone pretty much," Díaz said via translator Jorge Merlos. "First batter, there were [strikes] that weren’t called. It’s all part of the game. The second batter, I got him out. After that, I lost complete control of the zone.”

Plenty of things happened before Díaz got the ball, however, that led to Washington's win -- namely defensive lapses.

The Reds scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth on Nick Martini's pinch-hit, two-out double for another lead which almost made him the hero two games in a row.

But Díaz, who converted his first 22 saves in a row during his 2023 All-Star season, couldn't make it hold up.

He walked his first batter (Abrams) on four pitches and gave up back-to-back one-out singles. After another four-pitch walk to Joey Gallo loaded the bases, Díaz hit Ruiz with a pitch to force in the tying run. Eddie Rosario's sacrifice fly off Brent Suter brought in the go-ahead run.

But the game shouldn't have come down to the ninth inning in the first place.

“You can’t give away the amount of outs that we gave away today, we know that," Maile said. "It is part of it, for sure. Eventually, you’re going to find yourself in a really tough spot if you keep giving them extra chances.

Read Full Story Here:
https://www.mlb.com/reds/news/reds-l...4-to-nationals

[Bourgeois Zee]

This game was on Diaz.

[DGullett35]

I think he will be fine. There may be some rough outings to begin the year however you can't give up on him yet. He's got 2 years of success. Let's see where he is at the end of this month or the beginning of May before the pitch forks come out

[HokieRed]

Prediction: your future closer just pitched an inning. He may give up some jacks but the stuff is real.

[Strikes Out Looking]

Yes, I'm worried. His control is reverting the wrong way.

[KeefeCato]

I just hope he is healthy. But even if he is. He has to start throwing strikes.

[Bob Sheed]

It's just a bump in the road. Cordero will be fine.

[Captain Hook]

I’m worried. He wasn’t good the last month of 2023, he was bad in ST and then the blown save in the Nationals game. I by no means would give up on him but he needs to figure it out soon if he wants to continue in his current role.

[CaiGuy]

Diaz suddenly came out of nowhere. He could easily disappear out of nowhere.

That said his walk rate is really consistent. He is an effectively wild pitcher at his best. But he has been a bit lucky overall in his MLB career.

I could see him settling in somewhere near the middle dominate closer and average.

[Bourgeois Zee]

Diaz suddenly came out of nowhere. He could easily disappear out of nowhere.

That said his walk rate is really consistent. He is an effectively wild pitcher at his best. But he has been a bit lucky overall in his MLB career.

I could see him settling in somewhere near the middle dominate closer and average.

For the Reds to be a playoff contender, they have to have one shut-down guy in the pen. If Diaz isn't that guy, they'll need to either acquire him or develop him.

Because there's nobody in that pen who's dominant-- just a bunch of solid depth pieces.

[redsfan9988]

For the Reds to be a playoff contender, they have to have one shut-down guy in the pen. If Diaz isn't that guy, they'll need to either acquire him or develop him.

Because there's nobody in that pen who's dominant-- just a bunch of solid depth pieces.

Make Lodolo a reliever. We’re unlikely to get much full-season SP value from him before his team control expires. He’s not going to be able to build up to a full 160 IP workload (plus maybe playoffs) until 2026. Turn him in to a lockdown reliever.

Or Connor Phillips. That’s fine too. Maybe Lyon Richardson?

As for Diaz, it’s pretty simple: he needs batters to chase pitches out of the zone to be successful. If they force him to throw strikes, he still has a great slider - but he has a pretty mid fastball. I’d have him on a short leash. He gets the next save chance, but if he struggles, I’d think about allowing Pagan or Cruz to get a look.

[Bourgeois Zee]

Make Lodolo a reliever. We’re unlikely to get much full-season SP value from him before his team control expires. He’s not going to be able to build up to a full 160 IP workload (plus maybe playoffs) until 2026. Turn him in to a lockdown reliever.

Or Connor Phillips. That’s fine too. Maybe Lyon Richardson?

As for Diaz, it’s pretty simple: he needs batters to chase pitches out of the zone to be successful. If they force him to throw strikes, he still has a great slider - but he has a pretty mid fastball. I’d have him on a short leash. He gets the next save chance, but if he struggles, I’d think about allowing Pagan or Cruz to get a look.

I could see Richardson after this season. But guys who throw 98+ for five innings (as he did yesterday) don't grow on trees. If he can harness his wildness even a little, he's a really solid rotation option.

[mth123]

I think Richardson was injured in 2022 and then was getting the baby treatment with a lot of short outings last year. He did very well and I see no reason to move him to the pen yet unless the big-league team goes through a bunch of relievers ahead of him. This should be the year where they take the kid gloves off and see what he can really do as a starter. I'd leave him starting.

If the pen has a need for a late inning shutdown type, Santillan seems to be the next guy in line. I agree that most of these guys are middle inning types and Cruz and Santillan seem like the closer candidates if Diaz doesn't get it together.

Next move would be to recall Lodolo, move Martinez to the pen, and IMO, Antone needs to be optioned. In Spring Training Johnson gave us the "if Antone is healthy, Antone's going to pitch for us" line, but while healthy, he's not the same dominator he was and is the clear "bubble guy" IMO.

[oregonred]

It's just a bump in the road. Cordero will be fine.

Diaz means Graves in Spanish