The San Diego Padres, who have a plethora of infielders, were in the market for another quality infielder in the offseason. Luis Arajuez (27-Miami Marlins), the reigning National League batting champion in 2022 and 2023, was a target for San Diego.
The Los Angeles Dodgers showed interest in Arajuez throughout the offseason and made a strong offer during spring training, according to The Athletic. It’s interesting to note that the Padres, who have a solid infield lineup that includes shortstop Ha Sung Kim, third baseman Manny Machado, second baseman Xander Bogaerts, and first baseman Jake Cronenweth, were looking for a specialty second baseman.
The Athletic reports, “The Padres announced early in camp that they are moving Bogart to second base to use Ha-Sung Kim at shortstop. The only way to make room for Arajuez and afford his $10.6 million salary was to trade Ha-Sung Kim and move Bogart back to shortstop, or trade Cronenweth and start Arajuez at first base.
“Arajuez’s contact ability would have been welcome in a San Diego lineup that lacks a solid left-handed hitter. 바카라사이트 San Diego general manager A.J. Preller sometimes acquires players without considering their position.
Major League Baseball Trade Rumors, which broke the news
“It’s surprising that San Diego would be interested in Arajuez. He’s a young, proven player at a salary well below market value. He wasn’t the subject of any substantial trade rumors last winter, and the only position San Diego didn’t need to upgrade was infield. Despite being linked to several outfielders in free agency and on the trade market, the Padres seemed to have settled on a lineup of Cronenworth at first base, Bogart at second base, Kim Ha-Sung at shortstop, and Machado at third base. That doesn’t leave much room for Arajuez,” emphasizing that San Diego’s interest in Arajuez was a surprise.
Furthermore, MLBTR wrote, “San Diego could have traded Cronenweth and kept Arajuez. But Cronenwirth, who is under contract for seven years and $80 million starting this year, is cheaper in terms of salary but still a difficult player to trade. Or maybe they were more concerned about Machado’s defense at third base this year after elbow surgery. Maybe the plan was to move Bogaerts back to shortstop and play Hae-Sung Kim at third and Araujo at second.
“In the end, it’s possible that Preller saw an opportunity to acquire a star player at a lower salary and decided to make an offer first and see what happened later. San Diego’s offer was enough to tempt Miami president of baseball operations Peter Bendix.
But Miami wasn’t sure they could replace Arajuez, and the trade didn’t happen.
However, the fact that San Diego tried to bring Arajuez back is linked to Kim’s future. Kim, who has an $8 million mutual option for next season that will only be triggered if both club and player agree, and likely won’t be exercised, has been raising his stock as a prospective free agent since last winter.
With a base value of $100 million and a long-term contract worth more than that, Kim is still young at 29 years old and has proven his worth in the offense. San Diego, which has overextended itself in the past few years, has no room on the payroll and is in a tight financial position as local broadcast rights revenue dries up, making it extremely difficult for them to afford to pursue Kim. As an alternative, they could look at Araez, who has two seasons of free agency remaining, including this year.
Meanwhile, the Venezuelan right-handed-hitting infielder has earned a starting job with the Minnesota Twins since debuting with the organization in 2019 with his power and vision. In six seasons, he has a career batting average of .322-44 in 652 at-bats (2014), with more walks (177) than strikeouts (170). 파워볼실시간 He was traded to Miami in 2022 after leading the American League in batting average (.316) and won the National League (NL) batting title last year (.354) for the second straight year. Araujo is the first player in history to win back-to-back batting titles in two different organizations. This season, he’s off to a slow start, batting 1-for-8 in seven games (5-for-27).