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Hello Matt,
Carrera played CF, but was he ever being groomed as a starter?  All I ever saw written about him is that he had potential to be a 4th outfielder type - I had never heard any raving reviews concerning his defensive ability nor any incredible physical attributes that have him stand out above anyone else.  For example his speed is good but his SB totals are not anything that pop out at you.  Is arm from the reports I've heard is just okay.  His power potential is neglible. 
So other than the fact he can play a serviceable outfield and can put his bat on the ball just enough so as not to embarrass himself what really makes him a prospect.  We might as well bring Willie B back and throw him out in CF on an emergency basis is this is the type of player we are looking to man CF.
If by an unfortunate occurance Franklin goes down and we need someone to man CF for a few months we have several players currently on the roster who have shown that they are more than capable: Saunders, Ichiro, Figgins, Langerhans.  In fact there is a guy we drafted out of Purdue last year and now is playing for West Tenn.  His physical stature is very similar to Carrera's and whose performance level so far compares very favorable to Carrera's.  So if there is a need to replace Carrera in the system, we found him already - Brandon Haveman.
Risk aversion is not inherently a bad thing.  However, if the fear of failure causes you never to utilize your capital in order improve and grow as an entity, well then we are left to wallow in mediocrity.  Resources will always be scarce and there are only so many humans in the world who can excel in MLB.  So if all we give up are a couple of minor leaguers whose current performance level isn't telling anyone that they are ready to step on the field of play today; by all means bring in a player, such as Branyan, who recently has demonstrated a skill set that the M's are in dire need have.  The M's need to sell tickets.  If I were an owner I want to have a product I can take pride in and I want to make a profit - making money is a good thing.  If I can bring a player in who can sell tickets now and will hopefully have a residual affect for next year why not do it. 
I have nothing against Carrera and Diaz and hopefully they can have long product major league careers - but where they stand now in the pecking order of prosects within our system I just don't see them as major contributors to a winning M's ball club, nor do I see them as a reason a fan would buy a ticket and come to a ball game.