Brewers: 3 Sensible Trade Packages For Rays 3B Yandy Diaz

The Brewers could stand to upgrade at third base. Luis Urias put together an up and down season that saw a bunch of his offensive numbers decrease across the board. With the free agent market mostly picked over at the hot corner, the trade market is going to be the way to go to upgrade the position.

Possibly the best third baseman that could be available for trade this winter is Yandy Diaz of the Tampa Bay Rays. He's projected to earn $5MM in arbitration in 2023 and is the most expensive arbitration-eligible player Tampa Bay has. For that reason, plus their plethora of cheap, quality options in the infield and the Rays history of moving players like Diaz make him a trade candidate this winter.

If he's truly available, the Brewers should push to acquire him. Diaz posted a .296/.401/.423 slash line in 2022 and rarely strikes out. He'd be the perfect leadoff hitter that the Brewers need in their lineup. He hits the ball hard and gets on base a ton.

There's a lot of reasons it makes sense to pursue Diaz, but what would it cost to get him?

Here are three sensible trade packages the Milwaukee Brewers could offer the Rays to trade for Yandy Diaz.

Brewers Yandy Diaz Trade Offer #1

Brewers get: 3B Yandy Diaz

Rays get: INF Luis Urias, INF Zavier Warren

The Brewers like Luis Urias' versatility across the infield, and he has more of it and is a better defender than Diaz. Urias' bat is a bit of a step down from Diaz's but with what the Rays would be gaining in power production and defensive help, it's a very fair and sensible centerpiece in the return for Diaz.

However, it may not be quite enough to convince the Rays to make the deal in a one-for-one swap, so the Brewers may have to throw in a prospect like Zavier Warren, who also has some defensive versatility and upside with the bat. Injuries limited Warren in 2022, but there's some good value in him as a prospect.

What concerns me with the Rays accepting this trade is that receiving Urias in return doesn't clear room for their current young players they want to get time for, which is most of the impetus for making this deal. Plus, Urias is projected to earn $4.3MM in arbitration this winter, only slightly below Diaz's projection of $5MM. So there isn't much in cost savings for Tampa Bay in this deal either.

This is a good value return on paper for Diaz, but based on the Rays situation, they may be looking for something different. For the Brewers, moving Urias might become necessary if they acquire Diaz, so they may push to try to include him in any deal. That could end up being a similar situation to the Sean Murphy trade where Atlanta needed to move William Contreras if they were going to get Murphy, and the Brewers were happy to jump in and help.

However, the Brewers could also look to move Urias in a separate deal and don't necessarily have to trade him if they acquire Diaz. Let's look at some other packages, though.

Brewers Yandy Diaz trade offer #3

Brewers get: 3B Yandy Diaz

Rays get: RHP Carlos Rodriguez, 2B Felix Valerio

This is another prospects-only trade package for Diaz, but it possesses some more high quality prospects, which leads to only two players going for Diaz instead of three like what the previous proposed package was.

This is not the same Carlos Rodriguez by the way. Keep in mind the Brewers have two players named Carlos Rodriguez. One is the outfielder that was in trade offer #2, and the other is the Brewers 2022 Minor League pitcher of the year. This Rodriguez was a 6th round pick in 2021 and he posted a 3.01 ERA in 107.1 IP with 129 strikeouts this season.

He's rising up prospect lists and his value right now may be at its peak. There's some starter upside here and Rodriguez could stick in a big league rotation. He's yet to face upper level hitters so it's too early to know for sure if he can stick as a starter, but he at least has the stuff to be a big league reliever and the Rays are an organization that loves to stockpile pitching.

Felix Valerio has been a really good hitter during his minors career since coming over in the Keon Broxton trade with the Mets. He spent all of 2022 in Double-A and did well early but struggled mightily in the second half. He doesn't have a perfect defensive home but there is some upside with the bat that the Rays tend to like.

It would be tough for the Brewers to part with Rodriguez immediately after he won their Minor League player of the year award, but they could look to sell high and if they can get three years of Yandy Diaz, that's a great return for a 6th round pick plus cashing in the lottery ticket of Valerio from the Broxton trade.