MLB Notebook: Luis Arraez traded to San Diego Padres
By Brett Holden
57 minutes agoLuis Arraez traded to San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres have acquired 2B Luis Arráez from the Miami Marlins in exchange for RHP Woo-Suk Go and a package of prospects.
The prospects San Diego is sending will include the organization’s No. 23 and No. 24 prospects, Jakob Marsee and Nathan Martorella. 19-year-old Dillion Head will also head to the Marlins organization.
In the deal, the Marlins will send $8 million to San Diego leaving the Padres responsible for the league minimum salary for the rest of the season.
Arráez and the Marlins went to arbitration this winter, settling on a one-year, $10.6 million deal. Rumours swirled around the contact-swinging middle-infielder all off-season, which came as a bit of a surprise after the Miami Marlins acquired Arráez the offseason prior; plus, the Marlins made the postseason, their first postseason appearance in a full season since the 2003 World Series. (The Marlins did make the 2020 postseason, winning in the Wild Card versus the Chicago Cubs before eventually getting swept by the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS).
Miami has had a tough start to the year, currently sitting 14.5 games back of first place in the NL East. The Fish have an abysmal 10-26 record and failed to notch their first win until the 10th game of the season.
The start has evidently forced Miami’s hand, and Marlins President of Baseball Operations, Peter Bendix, seems to have given up on the season already.
Just straight-up tossing in the towel just over a month into the season. But the Bendix and the Marlins felt this deal was too good to pass up.
For the Padres, they acquire one of the best hitters in baseball. Arráez bosted the best batting average in baseball for the last two seasons, raking in two All-Star appearances and two Silver Slugger Awards. But, this is an odd move for the Friars. Just like Arráez, Ha-Seong Kim was the subject of numerous trade rumours all winter. However, San Diego opted to commit to Kim and Xander Bogaerts to start the year. Now, only 37 games into the season, they go and add another middle infielder.
San Diego is a middle infield machine right now; Kim, Bogaerts, and Arráez all currently occupy the middle for the Padres, plus guys like Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis Jr. have converted from SS to the outfield for the Pads. But, what will happen next?
In Arráez’s first game in a Padres uniform, he DH’d for San Diego, going 4-6, scoring twice and bringing home a run, while Xander Bogaerts started at second, going 1-5. Kim hit ninth in the order, hitting a three-run homer for his only hit of the game. In the following game, Arráez started at second, going 1-5, Bogaerts DH’d going 1-4, and Kim stayed at short, going 1-3.
San Diego and Manager Mike Shildt are obviously still playing around with their new toy, so I wouldn’t expect anything drastic from the team any time soon. But what happens if the Padres start to fall out of Postseason contention? Could the Kim trade rumours resurface? Do they switch to trading Bogaerts despite committing to him in the offseason? Will Kim and Bogearts become expendable if the Padres need a massive add at the deadline?
Bogaerts has played over 1300 games in his career at short but was moved over to 2B in favour of Kim this season, playing only 2.0 innings at the position this season. So, moving on from Kim and putting Bogaerts back at short isn’t exactly far-fetched.
Time will only tell what the Padres, and even the Marlins, will do next. But I’m just thankful for our first big trade of the season… More please!
Hamstring issues impact around the league
The season of injuries rolls on as four teams suffered some impactful injuries this weekend. However, this weekend included a strange pattern around the league. Four players hit the IL this weekend, all with hamstring injuries. Trea Turner, Wyatt Langford, Evan Phillips, and Steven Kwan are all heading to the injured list with strained hamstrings.
Let’s start in Philly where star shortstop Trea Turner was placed on the 10-day IL before the Phillies game on Saturday against the Giants. The injury occurred the night prior as Turner scored on a passed ball as he slid into home and was replaced by Edmundo Sosa the following inning. Early reports suggest Turner will miss upwards of six weeks with the injury, a loss Phillies Manager Rob Thompson is not too pumped to deal with.
Now, the hamstring bug didn’t just affect the Phillies; Rangers rookie standout Wyatt Langford is also expected to miss some significant time with a strained right hamstring. Langford left Texas’ game against the Royals on Saturday after trying to leg out an infield single in the fifth inning. He would be replaced the following inning by Travis Jankowski in left field. The injury is described as a grade 1 strain and the team expects him to miss around three-to-four weeks with the injury.
Langford is having a solid season to start his Major League career, swinging for a .224 average with an inside-the-park homer and 11 RBIs. Langford has played primarily as the team’s DH to start the year while also platooning in left with fellow rookie Evan Carter. Texas did call up Jonathan Ornelas in response to the Langford injury, but it seems the team would prefer a guy with more experience like Ezequiel Duran or select the contract of a guy like Matt Duffy currently sitting in Triple-A.
But the dreaded hamstring bug hasn’t just been exclusive to speedy position players as Dodgers closer Evan Phillips will also hit the IL with a hamstring injury. Phillips’ spike got caught in the grass while playing catch prior to the Dodgers game on Saturday against the Atlanta Braves. However, Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts isn’t too worried about the severity of Phillips’ injury.
Phillips has been fantastic this season for the Dodgers, currently sitting fourth in the National League in saves with eight and boasting an impressive 0.66 ERA in 13.2 innings pitched. To counter the loss, Los Angeles activated not only Blake Treinen, who looked great in his first appearance back from shoulder surgery but also Walker Buehler, who will be starting for the Dodgers on Monday.
Finally, Steven Kwan has a history of hamstring injuries dating back to his college days. Kwan has been fantastic this season, swinging an AL-leading .354 batting average with three homers and 28 runs while leading off for one of the hottest teams in baseball, the Cleveland Guardians. Kwan will hit the 10-day IL, but it is unknown how long he is expected to miss.
It isn’t all bad news for Cleveland, though, as they will now call up the organization’s No. 2 prospect, Kyle Manzardo. Manzardo has been raking in Triple-A Columbus, mashing nine homers and 20 RBIs in 29 games while also cashing in 14 of those runs in the last 14 games.
The season of injuries continues, and while it does open the door for players like Manzardo, Treinen, and potentially a veteran like Matt Duffy, there have been way too many of these around the league this year.
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