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Los Angeles Dodgers right-handed pitcher Edwin Diaz addressed reports from March out of Puerto Rico that he participated in cockfighting, which is illegal in the United States and its territories.
Diaz said to reporters on Sunday that he wasnt doing anything illegal and that he has not heard from MLB regarding the situation.
"I wasn't doing nothing illegal.
So they didn't reach to me," he said.
"But at the end of the day, I'm looking to help this team to win." Diaz was one of three Puerto Rican athletes (along with jockeys Jose Ortiz and Irad Ortiz Jr.)identified in a USA Today report in March for being connected to a cockfighting event on the island.
Diaz signed a three-year, $69 million contract with the Dodgers in December.
In February, he was depicted in two separate Facebook ads for a cockfighting event that month in Puerto Rico.
"A tribute to the Puerto Rican star and cockfighter Edwin 'Sugar' Diaz," reads the text of one ad.
El Nueva Dia, a newspaper in Puerto Rico, published a separate story in March with a photo showing Diaz standing in the pit of a cockfighting arena.
The Facebook ads remained online even after the USA Today report stirred controversy around Diaz's connection to the cockfighting rings.
It's an appropriate reflection of the dichotomy between the federal cockfighting ban and the cavalier attitude toward enforcing it on the island.
Opponents of the federal animal fighting ban in Puerto Rico assert it undermines local culture, reflects Congressional overreach and hurts the territory's economy.
A 2019 study estimated that cockfighting in Puerto Rico employs 27,000 people, and its ban would cause an economic loss of $407,160,000.
Diaz, 32, is in his first season with the Dodgers.
He's spent most of the year on the injured list, recovering from a procedure to remove loose bodies in his right elbow.
Before the injury, Diaz was 1-0 with a 10.50 ERA in seven games.
He struck out 10 batters in six innings, and had converted four of his five save opportunities.
Diaz faced live hitters at Dodger Stadium on Sunday prior to their game against the San Diego Padres.
He told reporters afterward that he would be confident heading out on a minor league rehabilitation assignment if and when he is allowed to do so by the Dodgers.
He's expected to return sometime after the All-Star break.
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J.P.
Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor.
A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P.
covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group.
His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015.
In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage.
He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.
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