GAMECHANGER: Why the Miami Marlins Should TRADE for Yandy Diaz

GAMECHANGER: Why the Miami Marlins Should TRADE for Yandy Diaz

The Miami Marlins should consider trading for Yandi Diaz. [Music] You are Locked On Marlins, your daily podcast on the Miami Marlins, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Welcome in to Locked On Marlins, part of the Locked On Network, now the number one sports podcast network. I’m your host Jeremiah Guyer. I’m a diehard Marlins fan and I’ve podcasted about the team for the last four seasons. Make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel or follow wherever you get your podcast. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. And on today’s show, I’m going to discuss why the Marlins should consider making a trade with the other team in the Citrus series, the Tampa Bay Rays, and acquire first baseman Yandi Diaz. I think this would be a huge addition to the Marlins lineup. Something that would propel this team into competitive territory, a statement that they’re ready to compete in the National League East. Tendered contracts happened today. The Marlins tendered all contracts for all arbitration eligible players, one of whom really surprised me. More on that later. Also, the history of the Marlins first round picks over the last half decade or so has been brutal. Hopefully, that can change moving forward. Let’s start though by talking about Yandi Diaz because first base as we all know is is is one of the clear needs of this team. Dare I say the most pressing need of this Marlins team is the first base position. If you were to tell me Jeremiah you can pick one position group, one one upgrade for this Marlins roster, it would be first base. I I feel fine up the middle with shorts stop and second base. I feel pretty solid about the outfield. I think it has the potential to be one of the best outfields, specifically left and center field with Kyle Sters and Jacob Marcy leading the charge there. The rotation, it’s in good shape. Edward Cabrera, Sandy, Yuri, the big three. You have Ryan Weathers if he stays healthy. Now, the bullpen can use an upgrade. I will not deny that. I I think the bullpen as a whole can get better, but first base is the position where I look at the depth in this Marlins organization and it’s just not there. You had Liam Hicks at times playing the position. Eric Wagaman had over 500 played appearances. That can’t happen again if this team is serious about competing. Now, I was on the Josh Naylor hype train and I did multiple episodes where I publicly said, “Hey, I want the Marlins to go out and make a run in the Josh Naylor sweep stakes.” And what happened didn’t even happen. Didn’t even come close to happening. Naylor resigns with the Seattle Mariners. He stays in the Pacific Northwest and he got a bag. 5 years, $92 million for one of the best first baseman in baseball. But there’s another guy that the Marlins could pivot to. Not a free agent, but a potential trade with the Tampa Bay Rays to acquire Yandi Diaz. I think Yandi Diaz is one of the most underrated players in the sport of baseball. The dude is a stud. All he does is hit and he’s got he’s under contract for one more year before a club option for 2027. He’ll be making $12 million this upcoming season coming off of a year in which he hit 300. He bashed 25 home runs, an OPS of 848. He’s two years removed from an all-star appearance and a batting title where he hit 330 to go with 22 bombs and 932 ops that season. He’s a stud. He is a he’s a perennial just what’s the word? Not all-star because but he should be an all-star. He should be a perennial all-star. Um it’s it’s crazy to me he he only has one all-star appearance in his career because you could take a look at at these numbers and and they’re allstar worthy numbers. He’s a really good hitter. The defense questionable to say the least at first base, but I’m not looking at Yandi Diaz for his defense, man. Like as long as you’re adequate at first, like you’re playable. You don’t look like a high schooler playing college baseball, a high schooler playing professional baseball, and and you can make some basic digs and you can catch the ball. It is what it is. I’ll sacrifice some defense for offense at the position because that’s what this team needs. He’s a He’s a a hitter who can hit for power and hit for average. He does both. He would come into Miami and immediately bring some juice into this lineup. Immediately be right up there with Kyle Sters for the best hitter on this team. He’s from Cuba. There’s a strong Cuban presence in South Florida in Miami. So, so that’s big for community and the community support, you know. Um, he he’s an under the radar player. Not a lot of people pay attention to the Tampa Bay Rays. Let’s just call it how it is. When we talk about first base, who do the majority of fans know or or watch? The casual fans going to say, “Oh, yeah, Freddy Freeman. Uh, Matt Olsen maybe with Atlanta. Bryce Harper, Yandi Diaz. No, they’re not going to talk about Yandi Diaz. Heck, they might talk about Ben Rice with the New York Yankees before Yandi’s name gets brought up. Pete Lonzo, of course, another one. But Yandi Diaz is right up there with all those guys. Now, the Marlins financial situation, there should be no excuse for the for them not to take on his contract in a potential trade. And what would the trade look like? How much prospect capital would they have to give up? Because Thomas White and Robbie Snelling, I’m going to tell you right now, they’re off the table. White’s untouchable. And you’re not trading Robbie Snelling in a prospect package to get DS. But anybody below them and Joe Mack, I’m going to include Joe Mack as as somebody that is just off the table in trade talks with the Rays, but a prospect package with anybody else, go for it. ma make some offers because I I’m fine with putting together a little package for for the Rays to take a look at and maybe you even look at your pitching depth because the Marlins do have a surplus of pitchers and not everybody can be in the rotation at once. Maybe you can include someone like I don’t know Jansen Junk. There there’s a lot of ways to go about this. The point being though, acquiring Yandi Diaz would be a franchisealtering move for 2026. It would be the biggest move of the Peter Bendix of the Peter Bendix era without a doubt. Last two free agency free agent classes, Tim Anderson, Cal Quantrol, and then they’ve traded away individuals. They traded away Jesus Lazardo and Jake Burgerer. So this off season, if Diaz is available, then you absolutely should be trying to go get him. I’d rather have Diaz than O’Harn. I would rather have him than than Reese Hoskins, Luis Az. Okay. Pete Alonzo, he’s in a category of his own and he’s going to cost a pretty penny for whoever signs him in free agency, but this wouldn’t be a free agent acquisition either. Again, he’s he’s making $12 million. If you take on his contract, that’s fine. You only have one player on your team anyway who’s making guaranteed who has a guaranteed contract, and that’s Sandy Alcantra. Sandy Alcanter is the only player right now who signed an extension who has a multi-year deal with this team. So, the Marlins are in a perfect spot financially to take on a contract. That’s the least of my concern. And as far as the prospect capital, I trust a a and support Peter Bendix to make the right move to hit the right buttons. Again, as long as it’s not Thomas White, Robbie Snelling, or Joe Mack, go get Diaz. He’s a proven hitter, and he can take this lineup to new heights, to a new horizon. You pair him with Sters. And Augustine, those are three serious power bats now. And you’re not relying upon, you know, Sters and Augustine to carry the lineup with their pop. Now you have Yandi Diaz who also hits for average, who’s a good contact hitter. He’s just a good hitter in general. Huge addition, potential addition to this Marlins lineup. And I would be ecstatic if they make it happen. Today, the Marlins tendered contracts to all their arbitration eligible players. And one of those players that was issued a contract surprised me. I’m going to get into that right after this. First, this episode is brought to you by Game Time. The NFL season is back. And honestly, there’s nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans, cheering on your team, but also tickets. Getting tickets can be a hassle. And that’s why I use Game Time. It’s the app that gives the advantage back to the fans. 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The Marlins tendered contracts to all their arbitration eligible players and Andrew Nardy is the one that surprised me the most. I’m I’m not going to lie, I did not expect to see Nardy offered a contract or tender a contract rather. someone that hadn’t pitched all of 2025. And from what I had been hearing, hey, don’t be surprised if Nardy is non-tendered. And Nardi’s not with the Marlins. It’s an $800,000 contract, so it’s not a lot of money by any stretch of the imagination in terms of the baseball money, of course. Um, this gives me hope. This tells me that Nardy probably isn’t as cooked as previously once thought to be. And all we need to do to confirm this is look back in history. Look at recent history and what the Marlins have done. Declan Cronin was straight up released from the organization. Nardi’s been tendered a contract. both of whom played pivotal roles in the Marlins. Well, for for Nardy it was 2023 and then 2024 is kind of a a down season, but for Declan Cronin, he was a workhorse in 24. He was one of the bright spots of that Marlins bullpen in an otherwise forgettable year. Misses all of 25. Nardy misses all of 25. Cronin is gone. He was just cut. And then Nardy is still with the organization and he’s going to have a chance in spring training to compete once again for a role in the bullpen. And what’s what makes this super important is that if there’s still juice, if there’s still gas left in the tank with Andrew Nardy, that’s huge for Miami. He’s a left-hander. What do the Marlins lack in the bullpen? Reliable left-handed options. They were rolling out Josh Simpson multiple times in high leverage situations because, well, because Clayton wanted to give him time to develop or something, but also he was the only left-handed reliever they had at times. Cade Gibson is good. He had a solid rookie season, an actual a really good rookie season, but you can’t rely on those two to be the only left-handed options out of the pen. You just can’t. Not if you’re serious about competing. Not if you want to win and build on a 79 win season. Do I expect the Marlins to say, “Okay, Nardy, Simpson, Gibson, we’re good.” No. No, I do not. I think the Marlins still have work to do in the pen. Whether that’s a righty and a lefty, I do think they need another lefty because you can’t guarantee Nardy suddenly coming back and looking like his 2023 self and all his fun and dandy in the world. No, that’s bad business. Again, he hasn’t pitched since 2024. We’re going into 2026. There are free agents out there that you can sign. you have to address the bullpen no matter what, but it would be an added bonus to this team if Nardy shows up in spring training and he looks good. He looks healthy and the injury concerns are no more and he’s competing for, you know, a high leverage role once again in this Marlins pen. The Marlins also tendered contracts to Cabrera, Edward Cabrera, Anthony Bender, Calvin Foch, Max Meyer, and Braxton Garrett. Braxton Garrett is a player who I’m going to be closely watching this off season and and spring training. Uh any updates this off season for Braxton Garrett? um you you never know if if he posts a throwing video or something because it’s kind of one of those situations where you just don’t know how he’s going to look. He had a great 2023 season, a lot like Mr. Nardy and then 2024 inconsistent, gets shut down, has surgery, you don’t hear from him for a year and a half in spring training. How is he going to look? How’s the velocity going to be? He doesn’t throw extremely hard. That’s never been his game. But if his stuff looks good, then Garrett can compete for a rotation spot. If he doesn’t look good, then what do you do with Braxton Garrett? He’s under contract for this year. He’s he’s a pitcher that’s had a lot of success for one year in particular. Just just that one year. It was a it was a super year. It was kind of like Edward Cabrera this past year where he put it all together and during that playoff run he was awesome. But now the rotation they find J they found Jansen Junk. They you know they have Ryan Weathers. They have a lot of pieces where it’s hard to see Garrett coming into the into the fold and and just stealing a rotation spot unless he looks really really good because Jansen Junk looked really good. Ryan Weathers has better stuff. Unless one of the three, the big three, uh, Edward Cabrera, Sandy Alcantra, and Yuri Perez, one of them get hurt or there’s a trade. Garrett right now it feels like he’s on the outside looking in in the starting rotation and I don’t think he’s a bullpen arr. I just I just don’t see the Marlins doing that. I’d rather see the Marlins move Max Meyer to the pen fulltime than a pitcher like Braxton Garrett. But that’s why you have spring training. That’s why you have roster battles. That’s why you have competition. And Garrett has one more option. one more minor league option. So, you could always send him to Triple A and have him build back strength and and get those reps. But my thing is that if Garrett’s not good enough to crack the rotation, then I I don’t know. Like, I I I don’t think he should just waste bullets in the miners with Garrett. Either way, spring training is going to have a lot of storylines. We’re going to have the bullpen. We’re going to have whatever additions the Marlins make this off season. And then, of course, the guys that are coming back from injury, just watching them and how they come back. Notably, Braxton Garrett and Andrew. Don’t forget about third base as well because of course you’re going to have Graham Paulie and Connor Norby duke it out to go win that first base job. Coming up next, we’re going to talk about the first round picks that the Marlins have made over the last few years. Spoiler alert, they have not been good. Hopefully, that changes moving forward. Guys, the NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or you want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. And you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. And another team that’s making that late push is the Miami Hurricanes. Miami, a two loss team, still in playoff contention. They’re on the road this weekend at Virginia Tech. The line is minus 18 and a half. So if you think Miami goes out and makes a huge statement on the road, you can go bet that right now at FanDuel because right now FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to fanduel.com, sign up, play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. I appreciate all the everyday listeners who make this part of your daily routine. Make sure you’re subscribed to the YouTube channel. If you’re new to the show, leave a like. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. And of course, this show is free and available wherever you get your pods. The history of the Marlins first round picks have been brutal, brutal the last few seasons going back to 2020. Let’s start there. So a half decade ago, Max Meyer drafted third overall. Underwhelming underwhelming career at this point hasn’t proved that he can be a viable or consistent starting option. And of course, you’re going to hear me say multiple times, you could move him to the pen. There’s a world in which you salvage Max Meyer’s career with the Marlins by moving him to the bullpen. And giving that a shot, maybe something can change because it’s not happening in the rotation. It’s just not. Elite slider, one elite pitch. The fast ball is downright bad. the change up inconsistent. Something has to be done if you want to salvage Meyer’s time with the organization. 2021, that was a selection that at the time, keyword at the time, looked like a huge steal. It looked like the Marlins had the steel of the draft and I was pumped up about it and then all of a sudden it wasn’t. That was Kal Watson out of a North Carolina high school. Watson just couldn’t hit. Could not hit professional pitching. Luckily for the Marlins, they used him in a trade package a couple years later to get Josh Bell, which ended up propelling them to the playoffs. But Watson just terrible offensively. Um, luckily also the Marlins drafted Joe Mack in a comp round with the 31st pick. So, they’ve been really good at drafting in the comp rounds, not so good at drafting with their first pick of the year. 2022, Jacob Barry. Barry is rule five eligible. Was not added to the 40man roster. It’s to be determined if he’s going to to stay around in the organization. Does another team take a chance on him? If I had to bet, I’d probably say I’d probably say he gets passed over because to me the the his offensive skill set isn’t anything special. He’s fine. He’s decent offensively, but he also has no home in the field. He He can’t play defense. a major league team is going to see that they’re going to say, “Well, he’s not he doesn’t have 30 home runs. He doesn’t hit 330. It’s kind of average. We’ll pass.” But we’ll see what happens. 2023 was Noble Meyer. Noble Meyer, best right-handed prep arm of the class. Hasn’t worked out to this point. Just can’t figure it out command-wise. There was a time period in which him and Thomas White were ranked pretty closely to each other and then White just accelerated went 0 to 60 and Meyer started going in reverse and at this point I mean they’re not even close to the same caliber of prospect. Thomas White was drafted in a comp round. He was their second pick. Meyer was the first. So make orb breakak season I think at this point for Max or not Max Meyer. Well, it is a make orb breakak season for him, but for Noble Meyer, it’s a makeorb breakak year as well. It’s got to show us something. It’s got to show the organization something that they that they can have hope in um and and try to resurrect what’s been to this point a very disappointing couple of years in the Marlin system. 2024, a season ago, PJ Morlando. Oh boy. PJ Morlando. What makes this worse is that Orlando was followed by Carter Johnson. Second round pick. Carter Johnson’s been terrible. Orlando hasn’t been able to stay healthy. And when he is healthy, he just hasn’t been that good. big year for Orlando to try to showcase that power that made him a a first round option. Maybe not the first option for a lot of teams in that year’s draft, but he was selected in the first round um out of out of a South Carolina high school. Had a really good combine. He has a lot of power. A lot of power for for PJ Morlando, but at some point you got to be able to hit too. You have to have a hit tool. You have to do it in games. So big year for PJ. Last season was Iva Arette. And this brings me to my final point of the night is that Iva Arette, hyped up college bat, the best college bat available in last year’s draft, gets drafted seventh overall. The Marlins select him over somebody like Jojo Parker, who I wanted. Arette has a lot to prove because of his stage in development. He was a multi-year college starter with Washington with Oregon State. Had a lot of collegiate at bats, played in the summer leagues, started at high A. 2026, you can’t roll out of the gates slow. You got to have a big season. You have to prove why the Marlins invested in you, gave you a huge signing bonus, and drafted you seventh overall. I I I don’t want to see a year in which other teams and their draft picks are rising up prospect rankings and and and scouts are saying awesome things about them and their potential and ours just kind of forgotten. Make your statement early. Give this team another blue chip prospect because that’s what I think the Marlins have needed for years now. are those blue chippers, can’t miss prospects, those studs, especially offensively. Pitching, I think we got him. Thomas White, wouldn’t trade him, wouldn’t trade him for any other pitching prospect in the sport. Give me Thomas White over everybody. Robbie Snelling probably the best second pitching prospect an organization has. I’m a huge Robbie Snelling believer and for the last handful of starts in Triple A. I was saying this guy’s ready right now. Call him up now. They’re going to take it slow. They’re going to give him probably till May. You know, get that extra year of service time, the business aspect of it. But when his time comes, look out for Snelling. Look out for Thomas White. But Arquette has a chance to be that next top dog, that next top prospect in the Marlin system, and I think they need him to be that guy. That’s going to do it for today’s edition of Locked On Marlins. I appreciate you guys tuning in, and as always, stay safe, stay locked on, and let’s go fish.

Could Yandy Diaz be the answer at first base for the Miami Marlins? With Diaz’s power and proven consistency, the team’s lineup would take a huge step forward f they swing this trade. Is this the bold statement the Marlins’ front office will make?

Roster strategy heats up as a surprising contract tender occurred. Andrew Nardi is returning and will look to bounce back from injury. Braxton Garrett was also tendered a contract, and will compete for a rotation spot.

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