The Philadelphia Phillies made the move that other teams didn’t want to.
At the trade deadline, they acquired Luis Arraez, a hitter who is unlike anyone else in modern MLB.
It has mostly worked out, as Arraez’s talent for making contact and not striking out has fit into the Philadelphia batting lineup just fine.
But the Phillies won’t be done with that decision. They’ll have to make the same choice again, one way or another.
Arraez was available at the deadline from the Giants in large part because he’s a free agent at the end of this season.
Will the Phillies bring him back? Will another team swoop in? They’re important questions that will have to be answered when the offseason arrives.
Luis Arraez Free Agent Update
Arraez has consistently had a tough time sticking in one place as teams struggle to value his old-school skillset.
Last offseason, a lot of players were off the board before Arraez finally chose the Giants.
Even now, with Arraez having improved his defense and continued to be himself at the plate, nothing is for sure.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan wrote in a new article on Thursday that Arraez might end up back in Philadelphia almost by default.
“Perhaps after consistently being the same productive hitter, Arraez should find himself a worthy market,” Passan writes. “But even at the trade deadline, teams were almost giving reasons not to acquire him. The Phillies might be his ultimate landing spot, especially if others convince themselves they don’t need a consistent .300 hitter with the lowest strikeout rate in baseball.”
The last sentence there almost feels like an oxymoron. Why wouldn’t you want that guy?
But Arraez is so antithetical to the type of players that teams pursue these days that it’s hard to even envision how he fits into a lineup. Through no real fault of his own, Arraez’s one-of-a-kind skillset makes him a tough sell.
Comparing to Jazz Chisholm
Passan brought up Arraez in his article as part of his point that there really aren’t a lot of key bats available this offseason.
Maybe the opposite of Arraez, but also a guy with risk, is Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. — a guy with all the physical tools in the world but also some maddening inconsistency.
“Chisholm is different,” Passan writes immediately after discussing Arraez. “He has the tools to be the class’s best bat. He has 19 home runs and 40 stolen bases. But his OPS remains below average and he is among the game’s top dozen strikeout victims. Even so, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Chisholm gets a bag, because he’ll still be only 29 entering the 2027 season and in a class of such mediocrity, his potential is particularly tantalizing.”
This offseason will provide at least these two second basemen for teams to consider signing. They’ll certainly bring out wildly different philosophies to justify which side of the coin is the better one.
Phillies’ Luis Arraez Gets Free Agent Update