With the Yankees making a flurry of moves earlier this winter, they’ve left themselves with just a couple of moves left to make to run out a complete roster in 2025. Thanks to Jazz Chisholm’s versatility, the Yankees could target either a second or third baseman on the market to fill out the final hole in their offense. While the options are limited, the Yankees need to be aggressive to ensure that they walk away with at least one upgrade for the infield. One of the players who could be available for a contender is Luis Arraez, who has won three straight batting titles and is one year away from free agency.
It would be an obscure fit due to his poor defensive skills, but if the Yankees end up in a situation where they need to just make an upgrade, Arraez could give this offense a big boost. That being said, how would they be able to entice a Padres team in need of rotation depth and salary relief?
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The reasons the Yankees would want Luis Arraez are pretty simple to understand; he has a 123 wRC+ over his last three seasons and projects for a 118 wRC+ in 2025. His high OBP may not be a product of working walks, but all that matters is that he gets on base at a high clip. The Yankees need someone who can do that, they have tons of pop in their lineup and while it wouldn’t hurt to add more, it also wouldn’t be shocking if they prioritized on-base skills for the infield.
What is a valid concern is whether Luis Arraez can handle himself in the infield, as the Yankees want to avoid the defensive miscues they had last year. With -33 OAA and -1 DRS in his career at second base, Luis Arraez is firmly below-average at the position, and while he’s slightly better at third base, he’s played just 585.1 innings there, not playing a game at the hot corner since 2022.
It’s a very weird defensive fit, and coupled with below-average baserunning skills, it’s not a mystery as to why his 109 wRC+ this past season resulted in a pedestrian 1.1 fWAR. He did play through some injuries and will probably bounce back offensively in 2025, but if the Yankees can’t find a home for him defensively they may not have him on their board.
Again it would have to come down to whether the Yankees are unable to find a defensively-sound infielder on the market, and given Luis Arraez’s projected arbitration number for 2025, he may not cost too much in a deal.
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Ben Rice has MiLB options and tons of upside, making him a candidate not just for the Padres at 1B, but also one who can spend some time at catcher or DH for them. He’s got tons of versatility at positions where San Diego is pretty weak, and the Yankees could shop him as an option for the Padres at three different areas of need in their lineup. To sweeten the pot, they could also add RHP Cade Smith, who struck out over 30% of batters faced in his first MiLB season.
The Yankees would also be saving north of $10 million for the Padres by taking Arraez off of their hands, giving AJ Preller flexibility to add someone like Jurickson Profar, who was excellent for them last season. It’s not a perfect fit for the Yankees given how poor Yankee Stadium is for hitters looking to rack up singles, but perhaps Luis Arraez’s outlier hit tool makes him one of the few players of pulling it off.
It’s also possible that Arraez could see an improvement in his game power in the Bronx, as he would have hit nine more home runs over the last three seasons had he played all of his games at Yankee Stadium. That would lead to him averaging about 10 home runs a season over that stretch, which might be able to mitigate the potential dip in his BABIP.
Defense is likely the main question mark here, but again if the Yankees get desperate, Arraez would certainly improve their infield over what they have internally.