Not even his most recent club, the San Diego Padres, has made a push to bring him back.<\/a><\/p>\nAt this point, two factors appear to be holding up Arraez\u2019s free agency: contract length and playing time. He isn\u2019t being picky with salary as he knows he can\u2019t control how teams perceive his value until the season starts. But Arraez doesn\u2019t want to sign somewhere without a clear path to everyday at-bats. He\u2019s also hoping for at least two years of financial security, though even that seems difficult in his current market.<\/p>\n
The Padres already addressed the position by adding Korean utility man Sung-Mun Song, a move that appeared to signal a shift away from Arraez. If a reunion were to happen, Arraez would likely need to out-hit Song, claim the DH role, move Gavin Sheets to first base and slide Jake Cronenworth back to second.<\/p>\n
Speaking of DH, that scenario highlights the other issue working against Arraez: defense. Typically, elite contact skills are paired with strong fielding, but Arraez has struggled mightily in that area. He finished minus-16.6 defensive outs above average last season and minus-18.1 in 2024, according to FanGraphs.<\/p>\n
Even so, it\u2019s surprising that teams with clear offensive needs haven\u2019t taken a flier. Arraez provides real value at the plate, posting a wRC+ above 100 in every season of his career and earning three All-Star selections. His bat-to-ball skill continues to impress. In 2025, he recorded a career-low 3.1% strikeout rate – the best in baseball. His squared-up rate, whiff rate and strikeout rate all ranked in the 99th percentile, per Statcast. His profile is extreme, but still undeniably valuable.<\/p>\n
Expect one of two types of teams to eventually make a move. A rebuilding club with hopes of flipping him at the deadline if he recoups value – think the Nationals, Cardinals or Angels. Or a team desperate for offensive production could roll the dice to boost its lineup, such as the Mariners, Tigers or Reds.<\/p>\n
Whichever route it takes, Arraez\u2019s top priority will be securing everyday at-bats – not something you\u2019d expect to say about a hitter who quite literally doesn\u2019t strike out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If someone told you a few months ago that Luis Arraez would still be unsigned heading into February,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-443719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}