At this point, we all know how the Tampa Bay Rays operate.
They will never sign a high-profile free agent and usually even stay away from the middle-tier.
They opt to develop their stars from within and, if they see fit, they are not opposed to handing out extensions.
Yandy Diaz is the latest Ray to commit his future to the franchise for the long term.
“Yandy DÃaz and the #Rays are closing in on a three-year, $24 million contract extension, sources tell me and @Feinsand. There’s an option for a fourth year,” Rays insider Juan Toribio tweeted.
Yandy DÃaz and the #Rays are closing in on a three-year, $24 million contract extension, sources tell me and @Feinsand. There’s an option for a fourth year.
— Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) January 28, 2023
In reality, that seems like a lot of money for a team like Tampa, but it’s still a fraction of some of the biggest deals handed out this offseason.
Value-wise, it works out perfectly fine for the Rays.
Despite hitting just nine home runs this year, Diaz took a step forward and virtually became a four-WAR player.
Wins Above Replacement means WAR, an all-inclusive stat to measure a player’s performance on offense, defense, and baserunning relative to the replacement-level player.
Diaz finished with 3.8 WAR in 2022, per FanGraphs, which is excellent.
$8 million per season for a 3.8-WAR player is excellent value for the team.
The player gets a nice payday.
He might have done much, much better in free agency, but he is still two years away and would have been 33 at the moment of reaching the market.
Diaz doesn’t have much power, but he sure hit the ball hard in 2022 and achieved great results with a .296/.401/.423 line and a 146 wRC+ (100 is considered league-average performance).
The Rays locked up a good one.
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