{"id":656982,"date":"2026-04-01T16:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/656982\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:40:15","slug":"why-padres-should-target-901-ops-cheat-code-from-rays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/656982\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Padres should target .901 OPS ‘cheat code’ from Rays"},"content":{"rendered":"

As one of the National League’s top contenders, the San Diego Padres<\/a> are in a position to make significant moves at this year’s trade deadline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Padres have some power on the roster (Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill), but they finished 28th in the Majors in home runs<\/a> in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trade deadline is months away, and San Diego is in no position to make a game-changing deal now, but it’s never too early for president of baseball operations A.J. Preller to consider the club’s needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer<\/a> tabbed the Padres as a potential landing spot for a Silver Slugger corner infielder from the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Padres could target ‘cheat code’ from Rays\u00a0<\/p>\n

“If anything, it’s a surprise that Yandy D\u00edaz\u00a0is still fair game for discussion as a Rays trade candidate,’ Rymer wrote. “His name has appeared in a bunch of rumors in recent years. That is sure to continue if the Rays don’t make a surprise playoff run.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Diaz, 34, hit a career high 25 home runs last season and could add some thump to San Diego’s lineup. But there’s a specific reason that Rymer believes the Padres are one of three suitable fits for the one-time All-Star.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“D\u00edaz\u00a0is perfectly playable as an everyday first baseman or DH, though the ultimate cheat code would be a contender landing him and using him as a platoon hitter. He has a career .901 OPS against lefties.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Padres have Ty France and Gavin Sheets at first base<\/a>, but Diaz would be a clear upgrade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More MLB news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As one of the National League’s top contenders, the San Diego Padres are in a position to make…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2407],"tags":[5,4,43,137,18,4339,4338],"class_list":{"0":"post-656982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego-padres","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-padres","11":"tag-san-diego","12":"tag-san-diego-padres","13":"tag-sandiego","14":"tag-sandiegopadres"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116330445260538920","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}