The Los Angeles Dodgers are placing reliever Edwin Díaz on the Injured List, per Katie Woo of The Athletic.
According to Woo, there has been no specific injury listed as of yet, but it is more related to an upper-body injury. This move comes less than a month after Díaz was activated from the 60-day IL following elbow surgery to remove loose bodies.
Though all fingers would point to a disturbance in his elbow, Jack Harris of The California Post confirmed that it might not be necessarily related to the elbow, and at this time, the Dodgers are checking all the boxes.
Since returning from surgery, the 32-year-old right-hander has not found his groove on the mound. He's allowed 11 earned runs since his return and has amassed an ERA north of 12 (12.91) in the midst of also blowing three of his last five save opportunities.
This recall back to the IL comes at a time when the Dodgers bullpen has seemingly been taxed overall. So much so that the Dodgers are recalling Emmet Sheehan back from Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets to give not only the bullpen some much-needed relief, but also to be represented as the corresponding move to have Díaz on the IL, per Woo.
Speaking of the bullpen, in 31 games since July 10, the bullpen has curated an ERA of 4.66, with three arms (Alex Vesia, Edgardo Henriquez, and Tanner Scott) all recording a WHIP above 1 in that stretch.
The lone bullpen arm that has had any recent success has been that of Jack Dreyer, who's posted a 3.04 ERA in 50.1 innings pitched and a WHIP of 1.01.
Diaz's latest outing came on Monday's 11-5 lopsided win against the Colorado Rockies.
It was a low-leverage appearance, as the Dodgers were up by nine runs, but Díaz seemed to struggle, giving up three earned runs in the blink of an eye.
There was also main concerns regarding his fastball velocity, which dipped to 93 mph.
Still, the Dodgers and Dave Roberts continued to put their faith in the right-hander, hoping that giving him opportunities in leverage outings could boost his confidence on the mound.
Looking ahead, the Dodgers will return home after an off-day on Thursday to begin a three-game weekend set against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Following that, they end the month off with a six-game road trip, beginning with a three-game set against the Atlanta Braves and ending with a weekend against the Detroit Tigers.