Last Remaining Diaz

 

First of all, the 'oh no, what are we gonna do' reaction in response to Edwin Diaz's injury from Mets fans? Very unfounded. You have David Robertson in the ninth, and then you have Adam Ottavino ready to go. You guys are perfectly fine, and the pen is still as strong as it was. Edwin isn't like a 'magic hat' guy, like you guys aren't completely out of luck without him. He'll be back next year, you guys are still great.

But yes, having Edwin Diaz out all year does put more pressure on Alexis Diaz, his younger brother who is embarking on a sophomore season after turning heads in his rookie year and being absolutely unhittable in a relief role. Plus, now the closing role in Cincinnati is basically his, so now Alexis has to close games in a year where his brother cannot close games, a year after he closed games really well.

Look, if this wasn't a Diaz brother I'd be concerned, cause Alexis is actually doing a nice job so far. So far he's got a 2.45 ERA with 6 saves in 13 appearances, and is one of the team leaders in WAR. He's not as showy as someone like Jordan Romano or Kenley Jansen, but the name of the game is efficiency, not abundance, and Diaz is a very efficient relief arm. He's also lucky enough to be part of a very strong bullpen, consisting of people like Derek Law, Ian Gibaut, Lucas Sims, Alex Young and Buck Farmer. Considering that there's so many homegrown Reds relievers like Tony Santillan and Tejay Antone that are injured right now, having all these cheap roster additions working insanely well is a good sign, especially for the bullpen to be this united.

Now...let's be clear for a moment. I'm aware that this is the Reds. And I'm aware how badly the White Sox stampeded upon them earlier today, but did ya notice that the relievers that gave up all the runs were the two relievers that aren't doing well for the Reds at all this year? Casey Legumina, which sounds like the name of an anthropomorphic bean in an animated film, and Reiver Sanmartin. All the other relievers that stepped in held 'em off. Young, Farmer, Luis Cessa and...backup catcher Luke Maile. Huh.

There is something troubling about the White Sox roughing up Graham Ashcraft, who, to date, has been the Reds' best pitcher. Greene, Lodolo and now Ashcraft have had some rough starts over the last few weeks, but I don't think that really dulls their value very much, especially for this team. There's still a ton of lineup issues, and keeping Elly da la Cruz down in Louisville is making less and less sense considering how inefficient Jose Barrero has been, but...as far as bad teams go, the Reds have a lot of plus sides, and the pitching is better than it's been in other dire years of theirs. Hopefully Diaz keeps it up and ensures that someone in that family continues to kick ass this year.

Coming Tomorrow- Every year since 2019 he's been on a different team, by no fault of his own. Has he finally found a keeper?