PHOENIX — The Padres will receive nearly $8 million in Saturday’s trade that sent two-time batting champion Luis Arraez out of Miami, leaving San Diego responsible only for the major league minimum salary, an official confirmed. the team.
Reliever Woo-Suk Go, in the first year of a two-year, $4.5 million contract, and prospects Dillon Head, Jakob Marsee and Nathan Martorella were dealt to the Marlins in exchange for Arraez , who is owed $8,491,398 for the remaining 149. days of his $10.6 million contract this season. The Marlins also send $7,898,602 to the Padres as part of the trade; San Diego will thus cover $592,796 of Arraez’s salary, the prorated share of the $740,000 minimum salary.
The Associated Press first reported details of the trade’s cash considerations, which could provide the Padres with notable financial flexibility. FanGraphs projects that San Diego’s luxury tax payroll, after Saturday’s trade, will be about $12 million below the league’s $237 million tax threshold. After incurring increasingly hefty penalties over the past three seasons, the Padres would prefer to avoid going over the threshold this year.
Arraez, 27, is eligible for free agency after the 2025 season. He lost to the Marlins in salary arbitration in February and got his $10.6 million salary instead of his $12 million ask.
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MLB Trade Notes: Taking stock of the Padres-Marlins deal Luis Arraez
The Padres have not taken a player to a salary arbitration hearing since hiring AJ Preller as general manager in 2014. Arraez won the 2022 American League batting title with the Minnesota Twins, won the 2023 National League crown with the Marlins and is hitting .299 after a slow start to the season. He will likely receive a substantial raise this winter. With just nine players under contract next year, the Padres are projected to hit a payroll of $186 million in luxury taxes in 2025, when the tax threshold increases to $241 million.
Regardless of how the rest of 2024 plays out, the Padres could avoid paying Arraez a significant amount in 2025 by trading him to another team in the offseason. They might also be motivated to keep him in a group that could lose a key member later this year. Shortstop Ha-Seong Kim can become a free agent after the upcoming World Series.
Meanwhile, San Diego appears to have retained some financial flexibility with the help of the Marlins. The Padres might be able to use their remaining resources to throw in some reinforcements before the July trade deadline. The team entered Saturday with a 4.19 ERA, and the rotation has several question marks outside of No. 1 starter Dylan Cease.
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