Luis Arraez he is among the players likely to be traded before the August 3 deadline. He is an upcoming free agent on a bad Giants team who is playing well enough to be one of the best players around.
Arraez said last week he would like to discuss a new deal to stay in San Francisco. However, there is no indication that the group has shown the same desire. The front office seems best to turn him into a contender for prospects. Arraez, who has exceeded expectations in his return to second base, has made it clear that he is not interested in playing other positions with a new team.
“This is a business, so any team that wants to give me a chance to help, it’s going to be second base,” Arraez told reporters before his fourth All-Star Game (links via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and Mark Feinsand of MLB.com). “I don’t like going back to square one; I prepared my mind, prepared my body to only play second base. One hundred percent, I sit in second place.”
It will be, though it’s worth noting that Arraez doesn’t actually have much of a say in the story. His one-year contract with the Giants had no no-trade protections. Arraez signed with San Francisco mainly because they gave him a second base job. That doesn’t mean they’ll take a small return to push a trade to a team in need instead.
All that said, Arraez has shown enough defense that the winning team feels more important there anyway. He was charged just four times in 800 innings in 89 games. Defensive Runs Saved felt his yardage was worse than average, but Statcast’s Outs Above Average ranks him among the best in the league. Only JJ Wetherholt has a higher OAA count than Arraez’s +10 in the area.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for a player who never reached the top level early in his career. The Padres made him a full-time first baseman through 2024-25. It’s not uncommon for players to drop defensively in their late 20s, but the Giants figured well that Arraez could pull it off (with some credit to highly regarded infield coach Ron Washington).
Arraez is also having his best year at the plate since 2023. He is hitting .330/.369/.460 with four homers, 21 doubles and seven triples. No other eligible hitter has a strikeout rate lower than his 4% mark. Arraez travels only through Miami Otto Lopezit coincided with the first baseman who took him at second base after the Marlins traded him in 2024, in his quest for a fourth hitting title.
Few contenders have as clear a second base need as the Rays, who have a .234/.328/.325 slash line out of the position. Bob Nightengale of USA Today surprisingly reported over the weekend that Tampa Bay has shown some interest in Arraez (and Arizona’s. Ketel Martewhich seems very unlikely to move). While the rays should eventually find out Gavin Lux just after the All-Star break, Arraez is a better player and Lux could fit in as a left-handed pitcher off the bench.
The Red Sox are back in the middle of the playoffs after a nine-game winning streak to close the first half. Suddenly they are positioned as potential buyers and can use the middleman’s help. The AL West-leading Rangers are playing Nicky Lopez at second base, and Arraez has connections with Texas manager Skip Schumaker from their days in Miami. A return to San Diego would also make sense if the Padres shop, as Jake Cronenworth has not produced an extensive list of conflict-like symptoms.
