The Cleveland Guardians should look to bring back Yandy Diaz

The Cleveland Guardians may have missed out on the opportunity to acquire the services of Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena, but an opportunity to trade for one of his teammates is now presenting itself.

According to a report from MLB.com's Mark Feinsand, the Rays will listen to offers on a familiar face to Guardians fans. Yandy Diaz. The Rays are looking to be in full-on sell mode, and this gives Cleveland a chance to bring Diaz back into their organization.

As noted by Jon Heyman, Diaz is expected to return from the restricted list, and the active on the trade front Rays could look to make a deal before the upcoming MLB Trade Deadline.

Diaz may not be having his best season as a professional, sporting a 109 OPS+ and .726 OPS through 94 games, but this is still more productive than a few other players that have seen playing time this season. It should also be mentioned that Diaz has 21 doubles on the year, an area that he should continue to shine in despite his ability to hit the ball over the wall being less frequent in 2024, but that was never really an area he was all that proficient in to begin with prior to 2023's career-high of 22. With all of that being said, Diaz's ability to be a consistent above-average hitter combined with a 14.7% strikeout rate would make him an ideal addition to this current Guardians lineup.

There is one issue with a potential reunion with Diaz, and unlike other ideas that have been proposed over the years, money is not the problem. The issue here would be the position he plays in the field and the current organizational depth. Diaz is primarily a first baseman and has made the occasional appearance at designated hitter. Cleveland currently has Josh Naylor at first, with prospect Kyle Manzardo down in Tripla-A waiting for his next crack at the bigs. There is the possibility that Manzardo could return to the Guardians later this season, and this would complicate things if Diaz were to return to Cleveland. Unless there is a belief that Manzardo is not going to be ready this season to contribute, the Guardians would have a positional logjam, making it difficult for everyone who needs to play on a regular basis. But should Cleveland's front office be more comfortable going with a proven commodity in Diaz over someone who needs to work on some things in Manzardo, contacting the Rays to try and work out a deal should be on their to-do list.