*Photo from Sportsnaut*
They extended a reliever, so now they're extending someone else. The Tampa Bay Rays and 3B/1B Yandy Diaz have agreed to a 3 year, $24 million contract extension, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The Rays have confirmed.
Diaz will have his free agency delayed by one year with his new contract, and there is a $12 million team option for the 2026 season that would delay his free agency by two years if it's picked up. He is set to make $6 million in 2023, $8 million in 2024, and $10 million in 2025.
Asked about signing his new contract, Diaz said that "I just want to give thanks to Tampa Bay for giving this opportunity and letting me be the player that I wanted to be ever since I was a Minor League player with Cleveland. And I thank them for the opportunity to let me show that off."
Last season was Diaz's 4th in Tampa Bay since he started with the Rays in 2019. Diaz ended the season with a .296 batting average, .423 slugging percentage, and .824 OPS, hitting 9 home runs with 57 RBI's in 137 games played. In the postseason, Diaz went hitless in 10 at bats in the Rays wild card round exit.
Since the 2020 season started, only Mike Trout and Aaron Judge have had a higher on base percentage than Diaz's .383 mark. Last season, only Judge and Yordan Alvarez had a higher on base percentage than Diaz, who had a .401 on base percentage in a career year.
Diaz has spent 6 years in the big leagues, two with Cleveland and 4 with the Rays. In that time, he has accumulated a .278 batting average, .372 on base percentage, and .411 slugging percentage, belting 39 home runs with 198 RBI's in 472 games played. Diaz has a .182 batting average with two home runs and 5 RBI's in 24 games played.
Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander said of Diaz that "Yandy's someone that sees the ball exceptionally well, sees it exceptionally early, puts the ball in play, and is as competitive as anybody against good pitching. Those are things that you can never have enough of in a lineup like that. We’ve tried to always appreciate him for who he is and how he creates his value and embracing that as much as we can, and I think it's served us and served him well."
The Rays have now extended Diaz on top of Pete Fairbanks and Jeffrey Springs in recent days, while they signed starter Zach Eflin to a 3 year deal in the richest free agent contract the team has ever given out.
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