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The 2024 MLB season is still in its first week, but it’s never too early for teams to start thinking about moves they’ll need to make at the trade deadline.
According to Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer on April 2, one star player to watch for movement this season is Miami Marlins‘ slugger Luis Arráez, who Rymer listed as a top trade chip before the playoffs and one of his “potential fits” with the Seattle Mariners.
Arráez made his name with the Minnesota Twins before being traded to the Marlins in January 2023. Last season in Miami, the 26-year-old slashed .354/.393/.469 with 10 home runs and 69 RBIs in 147 games, landing him a Silver Slugger Award, All-Star selection, and the title of MLB batting champion.
Arráez also received a Silver Slugger Award and All-Star selection the season prior, finishing 2022 with the fourth-best batting average in MLB at .316.
Just seven games into 2024, Arráez has already recorded 5 hits and 4 runs, so a third consecutive season at the top of MLB batting stats is foreseeable.
Luis Arráez Would Bolster the Mariners’ Offense Before Postseason
After six games in 2024, the Mariners tied an unfortunate franchise record for the most consecutive games with at least nine strikeouts to begin a season, only one short of the MLB record. As Sports Illustrated’s Brady Farkas put it, “The Seattle Mariners’ hitters need to make more contact. It’s really that simple.”
During the winter, the Mariners added depth to their lineup by trading for second baseman Jorge Polanco and outfielders Mitch Haniger and Luke Raley, but despite a lot of wheeling and dealing on the trade market, a big move in free agency never came. The team lost star slugger Teoscar Hernandez at the end of 2023 and traded away Evan White and Eugenio Suarez, so even with the new additions, it’s quite hard to view the Mariners’ offseason moves as having a net-positive effect on the batting lineup.
If the Mariners are looking to contend in 2024, it’s abundantly clear that their batting lineup needs a boost, and Arráez’s talent at the plate is undeniable.
“Reliable .300 hitters have never grown on trees, least of all in this day and age,” Rymer wrote. “And Arráez has never not been a .300 hitter. Not just figuratively, but literally. Across 2,211 plate appearances in the major leagues, his career average has only gone as low as .307.”
Would the Marlins Really Trade Their Star Slugger?
The likelihood of the Marlins trading Arráez is very dependent on how they play this season. The team doesn’t yet clearly fit into a category of buyer or seller for the trade deadline, and while NY Post’s Jon Heyman quoted a rival executive in January as saying the Marlins “have zero chance to hold onto [Arráez]” once he hits free agency, that’s still a few seasons away.
“Arráez is under the Marlins’ control through 2025 and, though there are challenges facing the club right now, what’s happening in Miami isn’t exactly a rebuild,” Rymer wrote for Bleacher Report. “The Marlins are nonetheless an October long shot with only a 13.9 percent chance of making it there, so it’s at least possible to imagine other teams calling them about Arráez.”
As well as the Mariners, Rymer listed the St. Louis Cardinals, Twins, and Toronto Blue Jays as potentially interested teams, so the Marlins are likely to receive a range of competitive offers if they make the slugger available for trade this season.
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