3 straight free agent reliever misses muddies Dodgers' bullpen goals even more

The Dodgers' messaging on their plans for the bullpen has been confusing, to say the least. They're stuck with Tanner Scott for three more seasons and have said that they expect him to bounce back and still be a factor in late innings, but they're also talking to seemingly every high-profile closer out there.

The first one that they swung and missed at was Raisel Iglesias, who they offered around $16 million for one year before he took that deal with the Braves to return to Atlanta. There was mutual interest with Devin Williams, but he went to the Mets instead for three years and $51 million. Per Fabian Ardaya and Katie Woo of The Athletic, they also floated the idea of a one-year deal to former Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley, but he ended up with the Orioles for two years and $28 million.

What's going on? It's pretty uncharacteristic of the Dodgers to whiff at this rate.

The confusing messaging on who will be in the closer role in 2026 might be to blame. The Dodgers don't appear to have a clear vision for the bullpen next year, and it wouldn't be surprising if that's putting some free agents off.

Dodgers missing key free agent relievers might be because of their indecision on the closer role

Scott might be the root of the problem. The Dodgers have given him so much money over so many years that they can't say with absolute confidence that he won't be their closer in 2026, even if he probably shouldn't be. But it means that the Dodgers can't make any promises to anyone else who might specifically be looking to stay or move into a closer role. It's not a great look to say, "you might get it, but also you might not, and if you don't, your role will go to a guy who was absolutely terrible in 2025 because he's making the most money."

It's a little different with Williams. He took a three-year deal with the Mets even though there's still a real possibility of them re-signing Edwin Díaz and no promises about the closer job in Queens, but he is coming off of a down year, and Díaz ran circles around Scott this season.

It's hard not to wonder if the problem with whatever the Dodgers offered him were the years. If they didn't want to go to two for Helsley — they're probably feeling pretty burned by Scott's multi-year contract — maybe they couldn't offer Williams the length he got with the Mets.

Being spurned by three top-tier arms isn't a great way to start the offseason, and the reliever market is moving fast. Scott may or may not be deserving of as much blame as we've speculated here, but there's no doubt his contract is looking worse by the minute.