The Rockies fielded a veteran catcher Elias Díaz on waivers this afternoon, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The postponement process will be resolved on Friday afternoon. Díaz is eligible to play while suspended, though that doesn’t make sense since Colorado has an off day tomorrow.
It’s possible but not guaranteed that this marks the end of his four-plus years in Denver. The waiver is not refundable, so the Rockies cannot revoke the waiver if another team files a claim. If he is not claimed, Rox can simply keep him on the MLB roster for the final six weeks of the season.
Colorado has reportedly expressed an openness to moving Díaz before the trade deadline. Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote at the time that the Rox were not planning to explore another extension with the upcoming free agent. With the Rox out of playoff contention, there was no reason for them not to try to get some sort of young talent in return. Rosenthal writes that the Rockies did not receive any major interest in a trade, however, and Colorado ultimately kept him past the deadline.
There is no chance the Rockies will get anything in return for Díaz. MLB ended the old August waiver program back in 2019. Any player who was on the 40-man roster during the season. he won’t sold after the deadline. The only benefit to Colorado from placing Díaz on waivers is the potential cost savings.
The 33-year-old catcher is playing this year with a salary of $6MM. There will be slightly more than $1.4MM due between Friday and the end of the season. The search team will take all of that money off the books in Colorado. Teams can’t negotiate with the Rockies to pay half of the balance. Getting a waiver is an all or nothing move. Díaz will be eligible to play in the post-season if another club makes a claim as he will be in their club before the start of September.
Díaz had the best season of his career in 2023. He connected on 14 homers with a .267/.316/.409 slash line over a career-high 526 plate appearances. Díaz hit another home run in the All-Star Game and collected the Midsummer Classic MVP award. His offensive production took a step back this season, as he hit .270/.315/.378 in 84 contests. That’s still reasonable production for a catcher, and Díaz had a solid year defensively. He slashed nearly 28% of stolen base attempts and has above-average frame marks from Statcast.
More to come.
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