PHOENIX — The Padres will release two-time batting champion Luis Arraez from Miami for nearly $8 million as part of a trade Saturday in which San Diego will pay only the major league minimum salary, team officials said. admitted.
In exchange for Arraez, reliever Ko Woo-suk, who is in the first year of a two-year, $4.5 million contract, and prospects Dillon Head, Jacob Marcy, and Nathan Martorella were traded to the Marlins, leaving Arraez with the remaining 149 He is owed $8,491,398 on his contract. Days before this season’s $10.6 million contract ends. The Marlins also sent $7,898,602 to the Padres in a swap. Therefore, San Diego will be responsible for $592,796 of Mr. Arraez’s salary, or a pro-rated portion of his minimum salary of $740,000.
The Associated Press first reported details of cash considerations for a trade that could give the Padres significant financial flexibility. FanGraphs projects San Diego’s luxury tax payroll after Saturday’s trade to be about $12 million below the league’s $237 million tax threshold. The Padres, who have been penalized over the past three seasons, hope to avoid exceeding that standard this year.
Arraez, 27, will be eligible for free agency after the 2025 season. He lost to the Marlins in salary arbitration in February and was awarded an annual salary of $10.6 million instead of the $12 million he requested.
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The Padres have not brought a player to a salary arbitration hearing since hiring AJ Preller as general manager in 2014. Arraez won the American League batting title in 2022 with the Minnesota Twins and the National League title in 2023 with the Marlins, hitting .299 since then. This season is off to a slow start. He’s likely due for a big raise this winter. With only nine players under contract for next year, the Padres are expected to have $186 million in luxury tax payroll in 2025, when the tax threshold increases to $241 million. It will be done.
Regardless of how the rest of 2024 plays out, the Padres could avoid paying a large amount of money for Arraez in 2025 by trading him to another team in the offseason. There’s also a possible motive to keep him as part of an infield that could lose key members later this year. Shortstop Kim Ha-sung could become a free agent after the next World Series.
Meanwhile, San Diego appears to be maintaining a useful measure of financial flexibility with the help of the Marlins. The Padres could likely use their remaining resources to add pitching ahead of the July trade deadline. The team opened Saturday with a 4.19 ERA and has multiple question marks in the rotation outside of No. 1 starter Dylan Cies.
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