The Rays and Yandy Díaz have worked out a mini extension of sorts. The club announced that it has preemptively picked up his 2026 club option, which is valued at $12MM, while adding a club/vesting option for 2027. Díaz, an ACES client, would reportedly vest the ’27 provision at $13MM if he reaches 500 plate appearances in 2026. If he doesn’t hit that vesting threshold, it would be a $10MM team option with no buyout.
Back in January of 2023, the Rays and Díaz agreed to a three-year, $24MM extension with a club option for 2026. He had just had his first arbitration season in 2022 and he was set to go through the process twice more. That deal bought out those two final arb years and one free agent year, while the option gave the Rays the chance to extend their window of control with Díaz by yet another season. He made $6MM in 2023, $8MM last year and will be making $10MM this year. The 2026 club option was set at $12MM with no buyout.
Over the course of the deal, Díaz has continued to hit, though the first year was far better than the second. In 2023, he hit 22 home runs and slashed .330/.410/.522 for a wRC+ of 163. His .367 batting average on balls in play was helping him out a bit, but he drew walks at a 10.8% clip and only struck out 15.7% of the time. Last year, his walk rate fell to 8.1% and he only hit 14 homers. His BABIP normalized somewhat to .314. The result was a .281/.341/.414 line and 120 wRC+. His defensive grades at first base also slid a bit. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 5.0 wins above replacement in 2023 but just 1.9 fWAR last year.
Díaz is now 33 years old and will turn 34 in August. The Rays could have waited to see how he performed in 2025 before picking up the 2026 option. By locking it in now, they’re getting a potential club option for the following season at a similar salary.
Díaz is perhaps sacrificing a bit of future earning power, but the trade-off for doing so is that he’s guaranteeing himself another $12MM today. That would protect him against a further decline in performance during the 2025 season. Under his previous contract structure, a bad 2025 campaign would have led to his option being declined and him heading to free agency with no buyout. Now he has the $12MM already locked in.
Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times first reported the news and the contract terms.
The Tampa Rays are taking a lot of flak recently, but they sure do seem to understand and execute their business model extremely well.
Rays are gonna Ray. I think they’ll be a better team this season. They may have had a down year last year, but watch them go on a five-year run of making the playoffs.
I doubt it. They”ll be playing in Florida, outside in the summer. They’d be zapped by the 4th.
So will the other team that’ll be on the same field.. it’ll be pretty even.
I think are going to thrive, other teams will be at a disadvantage, you get used to the heat if your in it everyday.
They also will have a better idea how to handle their pitching staff than opposing teams, it will be a small advantage that could play well. A lot of night games I imagine though, whether is always nice when the sun sets. Going to be an interesting season.
I agree. I think they could win the Division after the Cole injury. They have the best starting 5 in the AL East
Id say Boston has the best rotation, but I’m higher on Bello and Crawford than most. I think Buehler is going to light it up too.
McClanahan coming back from injury, Baz hasn’t really pitched a full season since his call up a few years back. Pepiot and Bradley look like nice young starters, I like them both, but like Bello and Crawford as much. Bello is going to be a good one.
I hope you’re right. Either way, when everyone–especially the other teams–is circling around trying to turn the Rays into the A’s (of the past) to poach their good players, it’s great to see them keep one.
Their pitching will be nasty if it stays healthy, but still remains to be seen if they’ll have enough offense.
As a salesman, I’ve had some tough assignments, but thankfully closing a goat wasn’t one of them.
They take flak because their owner is a scam artist and they have no fans, not anything to do with their signings or development.
MLB Fan – Just an FYI, but they are not the Tampa Rays. The stadium is located in St. Petersburg (30 minutes from Tampa) and they are called the Tampa Bay Rays.
Move the team to California’s central coast, where they can play as the Monte Rey Bays.
Because the water between Tampa and St.Pete is call the Tampa Bay…
…Sea?
Just like the Jets & Giants play in New Jersey yet rep NYC
The Commanders rep DC, yet have offices in Virginia & play in Maryland.
The 49ers play in Santa Clara yet rep SF.
The Braves rep Atlanta yet are in Cobb County. So it’s nothing new.
Rays are good at maximizing the dollars.
He’ll never finish this contract as a Ray. This simply extends their trade time period.
I don’t think business model is the right term. They could be making a lot more money than they are. They definitely run their baseball operations well.
It costs 2 Yandy Diaz-es to rebuild the roof
How did you come to these numbers, cause your equation does NOT add up!!
How many Juan Soto’s?
One Soto equals two and a half Trops.
Which player will have the better 3 year period, Yandy or Alonso?
Dom Smith, easily!
I’ll take that.
The first person to make a, “This is dandy for Yandy” comment is automatically subjected to a 3 day suspension & an undisclosed fine. (Present company excluded) Ahahahahahaha!
Excluding you? That’s handy.
LOL! So many decent 1B/DH folks out there and the Yankees choose this dude. Thank you, Yankees.
LBV – I know, I know!!!!
It depends.
Start the clock on his trade
A further decline would not have led to a $12M option being declined.. It’s obvious to see why the Rays did it. Christian Walker just got 3/54 at 34 years old. Obviously Walker was better, but Goldy got 1/14 and was much worse and 37 years old.
Besides, Yandy was fine last year. He had a 72 wRC+ in March/April. From May 1 on, it was 133 wRC+. And he was remarkably consistent, May was actually his 2nd worst month, at a 121 wRC+. From June 1 on, it was 137 wRC+. It was 138 wRC+ in the 2nd half and no month dipped below that 121 in May.
Good signing by the Rays. Yandy must’ve been scared of the FA market for corner 1B, but the only reason he wasn’t going to beat $12M next year is bc the Rays were going to pick up that option no matter what, barring injury.
@D’bleu He might have been even more scared at the prospect of having little-to-none income in 2027, if much or all of that season gets canceled. (They should all be budgeting for that.)
Smart move, locking down 12 for ’26, right here – right now.
You might be right, players that haven’t made the millions and millions would be disproportionately impacted, especially ones his age who won’t have a lot of earning years left after 2027. Good call.
Yandy has made;
2019 – $556K
2020 – $214K. His contract was $577K, but only paid 37% bc of COVID.
2021 – $210K. His contract was $589K, but -$389,892 that he forfeited for being on the restricted list for “family reasons”, I don’t know what that means, just that the Rays only paid him $210K in 2021.
2022 – $2.4M. His contract was $2.8M, but -$389,892 that he forfeited for being on the restricted list for “family reasons”,
2023 – $5.6M, contract $6M, but -$389,892 forfeited.
2024 – $7.6M, contract $6M, but -$389,892 forfeited.
Idk if the forfeiture was something COVID related, or what, but it wasn’t a baseball version of a payday loan, it was salary forfeited. So he made less than an average VP of Sales until 2022, let alone one of the better starting players on a perennial playoff contending MLB team. And now he’s 33, he’s made a total of $16.6M before taxes, and wasn’t going to be a free agent until he was 35. He’s obviously not living in poverty, but $16.6M over 7 years isn’t even enough to buy a house in half the neighborhoods in Miami, and 2027 will be one of his last 8-figure earning year. Now it’s likely his very last 8-figure year, given this contract.
I’d hope that their agents are also proactive in this, and obviously any other professionals they have involved, like money managers, and the players relations people that work for teams. Most players are closer to Yandy than they are to Mookie, Shohei, Judge, and Soto when it comes to their earnings. A lost year for most players that are into their free agent years is a really big deal.
Wonder if he takes a loved ones bday or a holiday off every year and builds it into his contract
If the Rays ownership were smart they would call Oakland and make the deal Fisher refused to build a new stadium in Oakland, They could play all their home games in the Coliseum until the new park is built.
@THEY LIVE!!! That’d be all kinds of poetic justice.
It would never work. A’s fans wouldn’t embrace a transplanted franchise, and Manfred and his crony owners wouldn’t approve a move back into that market, anyway.
@sonora All joking aside, “A’s fans wouldn’t embrace a transplanted franchise,” – is a ridiculous notion.
Yup. I’m sure the Rays are looking at Oakland and thinking:
“they averaged 800,000 year over the past four years, and the city has lost all its major league teams. Let’s move there”.
As a Rays fan, this just gives him more value as viewed by other teams – he will be traded at
ASB. Too much depth at 1B/DH coming from AAA as well as Aranda and BLowe
This makes him a more appealing trade piece for other teams.