The Seattle Mariners were active at the 2025 trade deadline. They made a move to acquire Josh Naylor from the Arizona Diamondbacks, but Naylor is set to be a free agent after the season's end.
This does not guarantee that Naylor will return to the club, and if he doesn't, that leaves a vacancy at first base.
Mariners trade idea lands Rays' Yandy Diaz
The Tampa Bay Rays are always a savvy team when it comes to making trades and turning players they receive in trades into quality players.
In a recent article by Bleacher Report's Zachary Rymer, the Mariners are linked to the Rays' Yandy Diaz in a blockbuster deal:
"Trade Proposal: Seattle Mariners get 1B/DH Yandy Díaz; Tampa Bay Rays get RHP Emerson Hancock, INF Tai Peete"
Seattle has three soon-to-be free agents in Josh Naylor, Jorge Polanco, and Eugenio Suarez. It will be really hard to keep all three, which is what makes this deal make sense.
Diaz's game is very similar to that of Naylor's, and his contract is a little more team-friendly. Naylor is likely going to look for a multi-year extension with a high-ish AAV.
But for Yandy Diaz, if the Rays give him a qualifying offer and trade him, it would only cost Seattle $12 million to acquire him. Diaz hit .300 this season with 25 home runs and an OPS+ of 136. He was one of the best first basemen in baseball in 2025.
Emerson Hancock has not been great in his time with the Mariners, but as we've seen several times with the Rays and their player development team, they may be able to discover something the Mariners could not.
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