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.
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.”
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