Padres Trade for Luis Arráez in Continued Quest for World Series
PHOENIX — The San Diego Padres executed a steal of a trade on Saturday, obtaining two-time batting champion Luis Arráez from the Miami Marlins for minimal cost.
The Marlins gave the Padres enough cash considerations to pay the remainder of his $8.4 million salary this season, less the prorated league minimum of $740,000. The Marlins received four minor leaguers, including Woo-Suk Go, a Korean right-handed reliever the Padres signed for two years, $4.5 million during the offseason, who was playing for the Padres’ Double-A affiliate.
More from Sportico.com
Padres general manager A.J. Preller confirmed the details of the deal prior to Saturday night’s road game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
“We brought in an elite player and did it in a way without adding any payroll,” Preller said.
Marlins vice president of baseball operations Peter Bendix told reporters his club would be paying a sizeable portion of Arráez’s contract. Miami is effectively swapping present talent for the possibilities of growth in the future.
“It unlocked better prospects, a much better baseball package for us, something that we think is going to pay off tenfold in the future with these better players,” Bendix said.
The Marlins were on the road in Oakland when the trade unfolded Saturday morning, and Arráez joined the Padres in Arizona a few hours before the game. After Arráez was greeted by his new teammates, Padres manager Mike Shildt told the newest member of the team he was in the lineup that night.
Was he OK with that? More than OK.
“That’s why I’m here,” Arráez said he told the manager. “I want to play.”
And play he did. Arráez led off against Brandon Pfaadt and doubled into the right field corner on the second pitch. Three batters later he scored the game’s first run on a Manny Machado single to center.
Arráez finished the game 4-for-6 with the double, three singles, an RBI and two runs scored in what turned out to be a 13-1 Padres victory. By the time the game was over, Arráez became the first player in franchise history to amass four hits in his debut, and his batting average rose from .299 to .315.
“What a game,” Arráez said. “What a day for me, too.”
And what a heist for the Padres. The nature of the deal had little to no impact on their luxury tax situation. They are still about $3 million below this season’s threshold of $237 million with a payroll for tax purposes of $234 million.
Their actual cash payroll for this season is $170.4 million because so many of their big long-term contracts are backloaded. According to the MLB collective bargaining agreement, those contracts are averaged per year for luxury tax purposes.
For example, Machado’s deal pays him a base of $13 million in cash the next two seasons, $21 million in 2026 but $35 million a season from 2027 to 2033. Meanwhile, his luxury tax credit each season until 2033 is $31.8 million.
“This gives us some room to do other things this season if we have to,” Preller said. “Hopefully we have a team now that’s going to be competitive. But we constantly have an eye on what’s out there judging our payroll and budget. We’ll see over the next few months where this leads us.”
Arráez is on a one-year contract and is arbitration eligible this offseason. He won the American League batting title in 2022 for the Minnesota Twins with a .316 average and hit .354 last season for Miami to pace the National League.
The Padres have him under control next season if they choose to take him to arbitration where, based on his recent production, he’ll likely earn a big raise.
This past offseason, the Padres faced this exact situation with Juan Soto, who was eligible for a raise in arbitration before heading into free agency at end of this season. The Padres traded Soto to the New York Yankees. Arráez is slated to be a free agent after the 2025 season, but he said he’s had enough moving around. Does he want to stay with the now 18-18 Padres?
“Yes,” he quickly responded. “This is a good team. They want to win. I want to win. I prefer to stay here, give them my energy, play hard. Let’s see what happens.”
The Padres shed about $100 million in payroll this past offseason after the death of owner Peter Seidler, who built the team’s largest payroll in history of $256 million last season with the stated intent of winning the club’s first World Series. The team has reached the Fall Classic twice, losing to the Detroit Tigers in 1984 and the Yankees in 1998, and haven’t been back since.
The Padres missed the playoffs by two games last season with an 82-80 record, but post Seidler’s death, the goal of winning it all hasn’t changed.
Both Fernando Tatís Jr. and Shildt were quick to point out the Padres haven’t had this kind of prolific hitter in the lineup since the late Tony Gwynn, who retired in 2001 with a record-tying eight NL batting titles and went into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007 with 3,141 hits.
“That guy’s a baller,” Tatís said about Arráez. “He’s the closest player to Tony Gwynn we’ve ever had here. The guy’s a pure hitter and I can’t wait to see him help us.”
At 27, Arráez only has six more batting titles to go to catch Gwynn, Tatís was told. “That’s why I only said the closest,” he added, breaking into laughter.
Best of Sportico.com
