The Giants and infielder Luis Arraez are in settlement on a one-year contract, in keeping with Jorge Castillo of ESPN. Arraez will earn $12MM and is predicted to play second base, in keeping with Daniel Alvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. The deal is pending a bodily. Arraez is a consumer of MVP Sports activities Group.
Arraez entered the offseason searching for a multi-year deal and was reportedly prioritizing groups that will play him at second base. He now will get his want, because the Giants will slot him in on the keystone to spherical out their infield combine. Arraez handed up multi-year presents from different groups to be able to play second base, in keeping with a number of reviews, together with from Bob Nightengale of USA At present. We at MLBTR projected Arraez for a two-year, $24MM contract at first of the offseason. This deal matches that by way of annual worth and permits Arraez to return to free company following the 2026 season.
The addition of Arraez brings the Giants’ 2026 payroll to $206MM, in keeping with RosterResource, almost $30MM above final yr’s payroll. Their CBT payroll for 2026 now stands at $232.7MM, which leaves about $11.3MM for future additions earlier than the Giants attain the primary luxurious tax threshold. Arraez represents the second eight-figure signing this week for the membership, after they inked Harrison Bader to a two-year, $20.5MM deal on Monday.
Arraez will add a contact-oriented bat to a power-heavy infield. Matt Chapman and Willy Adames mixed for 51 dwelling runs final season. Rafael Devers added 20 homers in his 90 video games with the workforce. Prime prospect Bryce Eldridge is ready within the wings so as to add one other large bat to the combination. Every of these hitters comes with various levels of strikeout considerations, and Arraez ought to assist stability out a few of the swing-and-miss in the course of the lineup.
The 28-year-old Arraez is coming off a comparatively poor season by his lofty batting common requirements. He hit .292 in his lone full season in San Diego. That mark nonetheless ranked within the high 5 within the Nationwide League, but it surely was the bottom of his seven-year profession. A .289 BABIP might be guilty for the dropoff, although Arraez’s batted ball profile additionally took a step again.
Arraez has by no means hit the ball arduous, as an alternative counting on a ridiculously low strikeout fee and an all-fields method to rack up hits. He reached new depths with the hard-hit fee in 2025, rating useless final amongst certified hitters at 16.7%. His earlier profession low was a 22.7% hard-hit fee as a rookie with Minnesota. He nonetheless squared the ball up at one of many highest charges within the league (42.6%), however that doesn’t imply a lot when you’ve gotten an especially low bat pace. Arraez’s common bat pace was about 9 mph beneath league common final season.
The defensive match is an unsettling one. Arraez earned poor grades within the subject in 2023 and 2024, combining for -26 Outs Above Common throughout the 2 seasons. He served as Miami’s main second baseman in 2023, however moved to first base after getting dealt to the Padres in Could 2024. The overwhelming majority of Arraez’s defensive reps got here at first base this previous season. He posted -9 OAA, although Defensive Runs Saved had him at +3. Arraez will now slot in alongside Devers, who has additionally earned ugly fielding grades over the previous few seasons. Scouts will not be enthusiastic about Eldridge’s defensive potential, both.
As a number of Cardinals reporters identified, together with Jeff Jones of the Belleville Information-Democrat, the addition of Arraez would possibly take away the Giants from the Brendan Donovan commerce dialogue. The identical goes for Nico Hoerner of the Cubs. San Francisco was recognized to be working arduous on discovering a second base improve and had engaged in commerce talks for each gamers.
The membership’s second basemen completed twenty sixth in OPS in 2025. Tyler Fitzgerald, Casey Schmitt, and Christian Koss dealt with nearly all of the at-bats on the place. Schmitt is the one one trending towards a task with the big-league membership subsequent season, assuming he’s recovered from offseason wrist surgical procedure. Given his defensive versatility and underwhelming manufacturing on the plate, he’s best-suited for a utility function. Schmitt might conceivably earn second base begins over Arraez towards lefties, although his .674 profession OPS vs. southpaws is sort of equivalent to Arraez’s .673 mark.
Photographs courtesy of David Frerker and William Liang, Imagn Photos
