Padres make splash, acquire NL batting champ Luis Arraez from Marlins

PHOENIX — The Padres did not wait around to see if their current collection of players could be good enough.

On Friday, they traded for Luis Arraez, the National League batting title winner last season.

Arraez, who led all major league hitters with a .354 batting average in 2023 and won the AL batting crown with a .316 average in 2022, is batting .299 with a .347 on-base percentage through 33 games for the Marlins this season.

The Padres sent minor leaguers Hudson Head, Jakob Marsee and Nathan Martorella and pitcher Woo-Suk Go to Miami.

Arraez, 27, is under team control through 2025. He is due around $8.4 million for the rest of 2024. This puts the Padres about $4 million over the CBT threshold they have vowed to stay under. That number does not matter until the end of the season, so there is time for the Padres to make moves to get under the $237 million threshold and avoid a substantial tax hit.

It is not known where the Padres plan to play Arraez, who primarily plays second base and has worked nine innings at first base this season. The Padres do have the designated hitter to work with, perhaps rotating Arraez, Xander Bogaerts and others.

The acquisition of Arraez could also affect plans to call up veteran Donovan Solano, though he is still being considered as a right-handed option off the bench.

The 25-year-old Go was signed to a big league deal, but he was optioned to Double-A San Antonio to start the year and had a 4.38 ERA while striking out 15 batters in 12 1/3 innings (1.46 WHIP).

As far as the prospect capital going to Miami, Friday's trade cost the Padres three players among their top 30, as ranked by MLB.com: outfielders Head (6) and Marsee (9) and first baseman Martorella (13).

The 19-year-old Head was the 25th overall pick in last year's draft. He was hitting .253/.342/.384 with two homers and seven steals in 48 games, most of them at low Single-A Lake Elsinore.

The 22-year-old Marsee was the Arizona Fall League MVP this offseason but is hitting .179/.333/.321 to start the season at Double-A San Antonio. He does lead the system with 12 steals after pairing 46 steals with 16 homers last year (.841 OPA).

The 23-year-old Martorella was a fifth-rounder out of Cal in 2022 and the highest-drafted first baseman of the Preller era. He's collected 24 homers in 187 games so far as a pro (.819 OPS), including 19 last year in earning an invite to the Arizona Fall League.

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Staff writer Jeff Sanders contributed to this report.