Dodgers finally promote trade acquisition despite concerning struggles at Triple-A

The Dodgers traded for demoted Reds closer Alexis Díaz on May 29, but they sent him down to Triple-A to start his tenure with the organization. Manager Dave Roberts certainly made it sound like Díaz's arrival to the big league club was only a matter of time, saying that he just needed to work out a few kinks before the team brought him up, and the Dodgers seemed to treat his weeks-long stay in Oklahoma City as something of a rehab assignment.

Over a month after that trade, which sent minor league pitcher Mike Villani to Cincinnati in return, the Dodgers are indeed calling Díaz up, despite the fact that he's only pitched 4 2/3 innings and has a 9.64 ERA in Triple-A.

In Díaz's last three outings in Triple-A, he only managed to get four outs while allowing five earned runs. An appearance on July 2 ended before he induced an out; he was tagged with two runs on a hit by pitch and two walks before Jack Little allowed both runs to score.

Díaz is already on the 40-man roster, so we probably shouldn't expect a DFA. Julian Fernández, who was just called up on Monday, or Will Klein, a familiar member of the bullpen carousel, are the likeliest members to be sent down to accommodate Díaz.

Dodgers calling up Reds trade acquisition Alexis Díaz despite 9.64 ERA in Triple-A

It's hard to tell what the Dodgers expect to get out of Díaz in the majors when his performance in Triple-A was so poor. It wasn't just with the Dodgers, either; in Louisville, after the Reds demoted him on May 1, he had a 4.61 ERA over 13 2/3 innings. Reds fans were more than happy to see him become someone else's problem at the time of the trade.

But especially after the Dodgers were swept in absolutely brutal fashion by the Astros over the weekend, they need both fresh arms and someone with a little more of a pedigree than Noah Davis, who gave up 10 runs in 1 1/3 innings on Friday.

Maybe the Dodgers will be able to turn Díaz into the one guy that emerges from the ashes every season to become a mainstay in their bullpen (see: Anthony Banda, Evan Phillips, etc.), but the early returns from the minors won't exactly get fans' hopes up on that front.