The Padres have prevented arbitration with three-time batting champion Luis Arraez, reviews Robert Murray of FanSided. Arraez will earn $14M in 2025, his closing yr of arbitration eligibility. A $14M payday represents a pleasant increase for the infielder, who made $10.6M in 2024, although it’s barely lower than his projected $14.6M wage (per MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz).
The Padres acquired Arraez in a commerce with the Marlins final Might. Though he represented San Diego on the All-Star Recreation this previous summer season and completed the season with an NL-best .314 batting common, the 2024 season was a down yr for Arraez. His .739 OPS and 109 wRC+ have been properly under his .829 OPS and 130 wRC+ from 2022-23. As well as, his defensive numbers have been worse than ever. He accrued -3 DRS and -6 OAA at first base and -3 DRS and -7 OAA and second base. Thus, the Padres used him as their DH an excellent quantity of the time, lowering his total worth.
If Arraez can shore up his protection and get again to hitting like he did in 2022 and ’23, he’ll nonetheless be a discount for San Diego at a $14M wage. Nevertheless, the Padres are considered making an attempt to chop payroll this winter. Based on RosterResource, their projected payroll for the 2025 season is $39M larger than their closing payroll on the finish of 2024. President of baseball operations A.J. Preller is reportedly making an attempt to deliver the payroll down someplace between its present projected determine and final yr’s closing tally. If Preller plans to scale back payroll and nonetheless make any additions this winter, he’ll nearly actually must commerce a few of his costlier veterans. Thus, Arraez’s title has popped up in commerce rumors.
A few month in the past, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the Padres had engaged in inner discussions about buying and selling Arraez. It’s not arduous to see why. His contract is extra tradeable than the longer-term offers belonging to Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth, Joe Musgrove, or Yu Darvish. Dylan Cease has extra commerce worth than Arraez, however the Padres would possibly doubtless need to preserve him round for a similar causes. Stop is projected to earn $13.7M in arbitration, just like Arraez’s $14M wage. So, buying and selling Stop would unencumber an identical quantity of payroll as buying and selling Arraez, however it might imply giving up a much more productive participant.
But, the one group to be formally linked to Arraez this winter is the Yankees, and it’s unclear how New York is. ESPN’s Jeff Passan lately wrote that the Yankees have “continued to debate” Arraez with the Padres, however the New York Post’s Jon Heyman and SNY’s Andy Martino have pushed again on that connection. Martino reviews that the Yankees “briefly” checked in on Arraez in November and “haven’t engaged with the Padres” since.
To additional complicate issues, Bob Nightengale of USA Today now reviews that the Padres “plan to maintain” Arraez in any case. That’s considerably shocking if the group remains to be severe about trimming payroll, however maybe the Padres determined groups across the league have been undervaluing Arraez after his down yr in 2024. That is perhaps the fitting choice. In spite of everything, if he can return to being the hitter he was from 2022-23, the Padres would have a tough time changing that manufacturing for lower than $14M.
