Rays All-Star Slugger Named Player Who Could Be on the Move This Offseason
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The Tampa Bay Rays are a team that people will be keeping a close eye on this offseason. Despite missing the playoffs for a second straight year, they don’t look to be far off from competing for a spot in the postseason in the near future.
Their lineup is loaded with talented young players. Third baseman Junior Caminero looks like a bona fide middle-of-the-order run producer. Jonathan Aranda was a breakout performer at first base. Chandler Simpson is a dynamic athlete in center field and on the basepaths.
There is a lot to like about the construction of this team. Alas, as the case always is, it will come down to how they can manufacture success given the spending restraints that exist.
The Rays are never going to spend big money in free agency, capping their ability to upgrade the roster. Their only real avenue to bringing in talent is via trades. Alas, to get solid talent back, something of value needs to be offered.
Yandy Diaz will be trade target again this offseason
One player who could provide Tampa Bay with just that is first baseman Yandy Diaz. Over at Sports Illustrated, Jackson Roberts named him as one of five MLB All-Stars who could have played their final game with their respective teams.
Diaz is one of two players suggested as trade targets, along with third baseman Nolan Arenado of the St. Louis Cardinals and starting pitcher Kris Bubic of the Kansas City Royals. The other two players mentioned, first baseman Pete Alonso of the New York Mets and starting pitcher Justin Verlander of the San Francisco Giants, are free agents.
“This would be a tougher trade to defend than the other two suggestions on this list, as Díaz is the Rays' best overall hitter these days and isn't expensive in the slightest. But Tampa Bay rarely lets its stars get to the end of their contracts, so the situation is always worth monitoring,” Roberts wrote.
Trade rumors have swirled around Diaz for a while now. It is somewhat of a surprise that he is even with the Rays at this point. He was a popular name on the trade market heading into the 2025 campaign and right up until the MLB trade deadline.
Yandy Diaz remains incredibly productive for Rays
It is easy to see why Diaz was garnering so much attention as a trade target. After a slow first two months of the season, he caught fire in June. In 25 games and 113 plate appearances, he had a .400/.469/.610 slash line with five home runs, four doubles and one triple.
He didn’t slow down much at all from that point on. In the second half, he was fifth in the MLB with a .326 batting average and eighth in OPS with an impressive .939. Despite turning 34 years old in August, he is showing no signs of slowing down.
Overall, this season he had a .300/.366/.482 slash line with career-highs in home runs and RBI with 25 and 83. He added 29 doubles as well. Hitting the ball as hard as ever, that kind of production could certainly be beneficial for Tampa Bay to have in the middle of what is a young lineup.
Yandy Díaz tallied a 1.528 OPS on the way to winning AL Player of the Week!
— Intentional Talk (@IntentionalTalk) September 23, 2025
The veteran talks about focusing on adjustments down the stretch and how often he works on his biceps 😂@RaysBaseball | @mlbespanol https://t.co/103m5ggqmE pic.twitter.com/tZvz8hUWB9
Diaz, Brandon Lowe and Pete Fairbanks are the only players remaining on the roster from the Rays team that went to the World Series in 2020.
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Kenneth Teape is an alumnus of SUNY Old Westbury and graduated in 2013 with an Honors Degree in Media Communications with a focus on print journalism. During his time at Old Westbury, he worked for the school newspaper and several online publications, such as Knicks Now, the official website of the New York Knicks, and a self-made website with fellow students, Gotham City Sports News. Kenneth has also been a site expert at Empire Writes Back, Musket Fire, and Lake Show Life within the FanSided Network. He was a contributor to HoopsHabit, with work featured on Bleacher Report and Yardbarker. Previously, he is a reporter for both NBA Analysis Network and NFL Analysis Network, as well as a writer and editor for Packers Coverage. You can follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @teapester725, or reach him via email at teapester725@gmail.com.