Diamondbacks trade rumors: Nick Ahmed drawing interest from Yankees, Rays, Padres

According to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, the Yankees, Rays, and Padres have all shown “varying degrees of interest” in Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed.

All three clubs make plenty of sense. The Yankees just lost Didi Gregorius for 6-8 weeks due to a strained right shoulder suffered while playing for Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic. In Tampa Bay, starting shortstop Matt Duffy remains without a timetable for return coming off Achilles’ surgery. The Padres currently have an open competition at shortstop, featuring veterans Luis Sardinas and Erick Aybar.

From Arizona’s viewpoint, dealing Ahmed would make some sense in that it would clear up a bit of a logjam in the Diamondbacks’ middle infield. Chris Owings is penned in as the starter as he wraps up a monster spring training. And the team acquired Ketel Marte as part of the Jean Segura-Taijuan Walker trade in the offseason. Brandon Drury and Daniel Descalso are other middle-infield bodies in the desert.

Ahmed doesn’t bring much of a bat to the table with a career .221/.268/.329 slash line across 842 plate appearances, but he comes armed with a slick mitt in the field. He also underwent hip surgery last August, but has looked healthy this spring. Ahmed is under team control for the next five seasons.