Circumstances have made a reunion this summer between the Padres and Luis Arraez a possibility worth considering.
While the Aug. 3 trade deadline is too distant for me to believe the Padres will in fact trade for Arraez, several developments have created a not-unrealistic scenario in which the ex-Padre is reunited with Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and other friends on the team.
The Giants entered Monday at 23-36, having all but played themselves out of the wild-card race.
Arraez has put together a fine bounce-back season on a one-year, $12 million contract. The man who signed him in February, Buster Posey, has reason to find out what the lefty spray hitter would bring in a trade.
As things stand now, Posey’s counterpart, A.J. Preller, may have some interest in bringing back Arraez, who sparked the 2024 Padres after Preller got him that May.
The Padres (32-26) are trying to squeeze out a wild-card playoff berth from one of the majors’ older rosters and have seen Preller trade for big leaguers in three of the past four summers by dealing minor leaguers.
Arraez, 29, has given Posey perhaps his best trade chip by putting together a strong first third of the season, performing well on both defense and offense to accumulate two-plus win shares.
Give Arraez a lot of credit in one area: He has made himself into an adequate second baseman through diligent work with infield coach Ron Washington and the Giants’ near-guarantee of playing time at that position, which was his primary spot for most of his career.
By adding second base to his positional options, which include first base, designated hitter and pinch hitting, Arraez may have earned himself a longer look from playoff contenders. High-stakes baseball is more matchup-intensive, making versatility more important.
Luis Arraez #1 of the San Francisco Giants takes the field before playing the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on March 30, 2026 in San Diego, CA. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Offensively, though, is where Arraez and the Padres may line up.
The three-time batting champion has thrived in areas where the Padres have floundered.
Foremost, the lefty has reprised his career standing as one of his generation’s best singles hitters against right-handers. Arraez is batting .333 against righties, just one point below his career mark, while the Padres have batted an MLB-worst .217 against them. Also, against right-handers, San Diego’s on-base rate of .296 sits far behind Arraez’s .380 and .376 marks for this season and his eight-year career; and his OPS totals for this season (.798) and his career (.811) tower above a Padres mark (.663) that occupies the next-to-last spot in baseball.
Arraez and the Padres would seem a personality-and-comfort match.
Arraez developed friendships with several Padres players during his time in San Diego, he said this spring. The first one he mentioned was Machado, saying they often played poker together. Next, he brought up Tatis. In the Padres’ clubhouse, Arraez occupied a stall near both of those stars, but several other players on the Padres, plus many ex-teammates with other teams, have said the Venezuelan’s upbeat personality and high energy improved the team’s chemistry.
Positionally, the fit between the Padres and Arraez isn’t ideal.
Arraez has thrived at second base, posting a nine outs above average rating that lands in the 99th percentile. But Tatis has become a very good defender there, and thus freed up playing time in the Padres’ outfield for a few hitters — including the newly promoted Jase Bowen — who otherwise may have languished. Second base is lefty-hitting Jake Cronenworth’s best position, although Cronenworth, 32, isn’t close to returning from the setback of April 18 that reportedly left him with concussion-like symptoms.
At first base, the Padres’ left-right tandem of Gavin Sheets and Ty France has punched up the team’s subpar offense.
Giving Posey incentive to trade Arraez if re-signing him isn’t an option, it’s almost certain the Giants won’t get draft pick compensation if the veteran leaves as a free agent next offseason.
Preller wouldn’t have much homework to do on Arraez. Renewing acquaintances in April, when the Giants visited San Diego this season for the first time, Preller chatted him up and hugged him.