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Padres acquire 2-time All-Star in blockbuster trade With Phillies To Help Strengthen The Squad

The San Diego Padres are adding another incandescent player to their already star-studded roster.

The Padres acquired second baseman Luis Arraez in a trade with the Miami Marlins on Friday.

The Marlins are reportedly receiving three prospects and a relief pitcher in return. The trade is under medical review but is expected to be completed soon, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

Through 33 games this season, Arraez has hit .299 with 8 doubles and 5 RBIs. The 27-year-old Venezuelan has proven himself to be one of the best hitters in baseball. He won the batting title in each of his last two seasons.

Arraez led the majors with an astounding .354 batting average last season, which saw him earn his second All-Star nod and a few MVP votes.

The Marlins entered Friday’s contests with a 9-24 record — one of just three teams that had yet to breach the 10-win mark. It’s no surprise that Miami may be looking to sell high on their top players in order to acquire assets for the future.

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A two-time All-Star, Arráez won a league batting title each of the past two seasons. He slashed .354/.393/.469 with 10 home runs and 69 RBI in Miami last season, all career highs. Before that, he won the AL batting title in 2022 with a .316/.375/.420 slash line while playing for the Minnesota Twins.

In 33 games so far this season, Arráez is slashing .299/.347/.372 with five RBI and zero home runs.

Arráez joins a Padres team with an established infield featuring veterans Jake Cronenworth, Ha-Seong Kim, Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado. He could split time between designated hitter and rotating into the San Diego infield. He’ll leave Miami after spending a season-plus with the Marlins. He played his first four MLB seasons with the Twins before being traded to the Marlins in January 2023.

The Padres are off to a 17-18 start that’s good for second in the NL West, and they sit 4.5 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers. The arrival of Arráez bolsters their lineup as they project to compete for an NL wild-card berth.

Meanwhile, the Marlins are off to one of the worst starts in baseball at 9-25. They’ll add four pieces for the future with little hope of competing this season.

What are the Padres adding with Arráez?

Is anyone remotely surprised that AJ Preller was the GM willing to take a big swing on a win-now trade months before the deadline? Or that the Marlins, off to a terrible start and heading full-steam toward a rebuild, would jump at the opportunity to flip a veteran for a package of prospects? No and no. The players involved in this rare May blockbuster, however, are certainly intriguing.

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For starters, why exactly do the Padres need Arráez? Over the season’s first month, San Diego has looked far weaker on the mound (22nd in ERA+) than in the lineup, where the Padres are top-10 in MLB in both runs per game and OPS+. That said, with Manny Machado seemingly ready to return to third base full-time after offseason elbow surgery, the DH spot he has occupied for much of April has opened up without an obvious candidates to fill it.

And while this offense has looked strong at times, it could use another lefty stick — that Juan Soto fella isn’t around anymore, remember? Arráez is a fascinating bat to acquire, but he won’t provide even a fraction of the power that Soto did — Arráez currently leads all of MLB as the hitter with the most plate appearances with zero homers — but the 27-year-old unquestionably possesses an elite offensive skill in his ability to make an exceptional amount of contact. This is already an area in which San Diego excels at as a team, and Arráez will accentuate that further.