Jose

Diaz

Kansas City might be willing to move Scott Sullivan or Brian Anderson to the Mets. Diaz is a hard-throwing 24-year-old righty who has struck out 70 in 70 2/3 innings for Binghamton, but still needs a lot of work. He has a 5.00 ERA and 1.54 WHIP.

The hard-throwing Diaz has been on waivers in the past and was a minor league free agent after last year, so he wasn’t exactly a hot property. The 26-year-old had a 3.28 ERA and a 46/22 K/BB ratio in 35 2/3 innings for Triple-A Oklahoma. He’ll likely be assigned to Omaha.

Diaz is a career minor leaguer and has yet to make his major league debut. He’ll likely open next season at the Triple-A level.

Diaz throws hard and would be lethal if the size of the strike zone was quadrupled. As is, he seems like a poor bet. He had a 9.13 ERA in 23 2/3 IP for Double-A Montgomery before being removed from Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster.

Diaz, acquired along with Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano last July, has a big fastball and not much else. His 9.13 ERA in 23 2/3 IP for Double-A Montgomery will proabbly help him clear waivers.

We’re very excited about the possibility of an Anderson Machado-Anderson Hernandez double play combination at Triple-A New Orleans. Machado remains a fine defender, but his inability to hit for average is probably going to keep him from getting a chance to make it as a utilityman. Tatis, who made it back to the majors with the Orioles in 2006, spent all of last season in New Orleans and hit .276/.359/.485. Diaz is back in the U.S. after finishing with a 4.59 ERA in 66 2/3 innings last year for the Yokohama BayStars.

Diaz allowed an unearned run in an inning during his brief stay with the Rangers.

Let go by the Mets after going 1-5 with a 6.69 ERA in the rotation at Triple-A, Diaz latched on with the Rangers’ Double-A team and has posted a 3.95 ERA with a 13/11 K/BB ratio in 13 2/3 innings as a reliever. He profiles as a marginal middle reliever at best and likely won’t be long for the majors.

Diaz, a hard-throwing reliever with massive control issues, was a waiver claim from the Rays in June. He wasn’t about to contribute anytime soon.