The Colorado Rockies have surprisingly said goodbye to catcher Elias Diaz, giving a competitive team like the Cleveland Guardians the opportunity to bring him on board.

The fact that the Rockies were unable to trade Diaz by the deadline is certainly surprising considering his All-Star appearance was just one season ago.

Regardless, he is now available and teams have until 1 p.m. ET Friday to make a claim on Diaz before he becomes a free agent.

The Guardians could definitely use a player like Diaz behind the plate.

Although Diaz can’t exactly keep up with Mike Piazza or Joe Mauer on offense, he would be a significant improvement over Cleveland’s current catcher lineup.

Diaz has a batting average of .270/.315/.378 with five home runs and 36 RBI this season, and last year he had a batting average of .267/.316/.409 with 14 home runs and 72 RBI.

In addition, the 33-year-old is a very solid defensive catcher with an excellent arm.

The Guardians currently use Bo Naylor and Austin Hedges as their two primary backstops, and while Naylor has had his moments, he only has a .202 batting average with a .619 OPS. Hedges has been even worse offensively, hitting .158/.209/.218.

Cleveland needed offensive reinforcements all season long, and they attempted to add a player just before the trade deadline, signing outfielder Lane Thomas in a deal with the Washington Nationals. Since his arrival, however, Thomas has only a dismal .104 batting average.

Diaz would definitely be a better presence in the lineup than the offerings of Naylor and Hedges, so the Guardians should definitely consider adding him to the team.

Of course, since waiver claims are made in reverse order by record, almost every baseball team ahead of Cleveland will have a shot at Diaz.

But rival clubs may not be willing to take on Diaz’s $6 million salary for 2024.

We’ll see if the Guardians get a chance to win Diaz over.