Luis Arraez is far from a perfect ballplayer, but anyone wasting brainpower debating whether or not he’d improve the Yankees needs to take a closer look at their incumbent options.
The Yankees have discussed the three-time batting champ with the Padres, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. That makes sense, as the club has an opening at second or third base now that Gleyber Torres is a Tiger. Jazz Chisholm Jr. will play one of the two positions, while Arraez could handle the other if acquired.
The alternative would be to start or platoon some combination of DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza at second or third.
LeMahieu, a two-time batting champ himself, has shown significant decline and had trouble staying healthy over the last few seasons. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Yankees end up eating a large chunk of the $30 million he’s still owed over the next two years, though the club has publicly expressed hope that he can bounce back in 2025.
Cabrera is better suited in a utility role, as his versatility can help the Yankees at just about every position. Peraza, a former top prospect with a slick glove, has yet to show that he can hit big league pitching and will be exposed to waivers if he doesn’t make the Bombers’ big league roster out of spring training.
With Torres gone, the Yankees are also missing a clear leadoff man who can consistently get on base and hit for average in front of Aaron Judge. Their best in-house options are Chisholm and Anthony Volpe. Both are speedsters, but Chisholm is a.249 hitter with a .311 OBP for his career. Volpe, while fresh off an encouraging postseason, is a .228 hitter with a .288 OBP.
Arraez owns a .323 average and .372 OBP over six seasons that have spanned both leagues. As a leadoff hitter, those numbers are .313 and .345.
Last year was a down one for Arraez, and the 27-year-old still hit .314 and won a batting title while splitting his season between Miami and San Diego. He also dealt with a thumb injury that eventually required surgery.
Arraez, who is not fleet of foot, would allow Chisholm and Volpe to hit lower in the lineup, where they could theoretically steal more freely without the risk of running into outs with Judge at the plate.
One of the knocks against Arraez is that he doesn’t walk much, which is something you’d want in a leadoff man. However, he puts the ball in play at a ridiculous rate, and his 196 free passes still tops his 194 career strikeouts.
Luis Arraez had 672 plate appearances in 2024…he put the ball in play during 611 of them. pic.twitter.com/jxo7FTQyOo
— Sam Fosberg (@discussbaseball) January 2, 2025
There are a few other reasons why Arraez isn’t heavily valued; he has an 11.0 fWAR for his entire career despite being a three-time All-Star.
For one, he has next to no power and doesn’t drive many people in. He only had four homers last season and has 28 for his career to go along with a .418 slugging percentage. While he recorded 200 hits last season, 161 of those were singles, and he only totaled 250 bases.
Perhaps the lefty swinger could add some pop in Yankee Stadium — Baseball Savant says he’d have 10 more career homers if he played in the Bronx — but the Yankees also wouldn’t be getting Arraez to be some bopper. They’d be getting him to set up Judge and the middle of the order because there’s no dependable candidate to do that right now.
Arraez is also a poor defender and baserunner. At second, the position he’s played the most, he’s tallied -1 Defensive Runs Saved, -33 Outs Above Average, a -24 Fielding Run Value and 16 errors over 2,711 innings. At third, those figures are four, -7, -5 and seven over 585.1 innings.
In addition to being slow, Arraez has a -3.6 BsR — that’s FanGraphs’ all-encompassing baserunning metric — for his career.
While these are not desirable traits for a Yankees team that was plagued by bad defense and baserunning last season, the club also made it all the way to the World Series with Torres being a bottom-three defensive second baseman and baseball’s sixth-worst runner in terms of BsR. Torres also didn’t hit at the rate Arraez did, even after overcoming a first-half slump and emerging as the Yankees’ leadoff man.
But this argument in favor of an Arraez trade is not about Torres. It’s not even completely about Arraez given the Yankees’ limited options as they continue to search for offensive firepower following Juan Soto’s departure.
We’ve already covered the lackluster internal choices. Externally, there’s little left to like at second or third on the open market, and the Reds just acquired Gavin Lux, another second baseman of interest to the Yankees, from the Dodgers on Monday night. The Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado and free agent Alex Bregman have been frequently mentioned as possibilities for the Yankees, but each player comes with concerns and would require a large, multi-year financial commitment.
Arraez, on the other hand, will earn roughly $14 million this coming season before hitting free agency, meaning the Yankees would only be on the hook for one year if a hypothetical trade didn’t work out well for them. With a projected payroll already over the highest luxury tax threshold, they may want to shed some salary before taking on that money.
However, if the Yanks can land Arraez at a reasonable cost, they should seriously consider bringing him in. Arraez may not be a flawless fit, but he’s better than the other paths in front of them.