One yr faraway from an offseason that noticed the Padres radically alter the path of their franchise by paring down on payroll and buying and selling famous person Juan Soto to the Yankees, San Diego as soon as once more finds itself in one thing of a monetary pickle. The membership is anticipated to take care of its payroll stage from 2024 headed into 2025; in accordance with RosterResource, that’s a funds of $169M and a luxurious tax payroll that falls beneath the primary threshold (which sits at $241M in 2025). Attending to that stage of payroll could also be simpler mentioned than finished, nonetheless, because the Padres are at present projected for a payroll slightly below $210M in 2025 with a luxurious tax payroll of $244M, simply above the primary threshold.
That leaves the membership probably seeking to pare down payroll by round $40M this winter, they usually’ll absolutely be hoping to make additions to the crew regardless of these cuts. The Padres might want to add at the very least one starter to pair with a trio of Dylan Stop, Michael King and Yu Darvish this winter, and the departure of Jurickson Profar leaves a void in left area, to not point out the losses of position gamers David Peralta and Donovan Solano weakening the membership’s lineup at DH and on the bench. After all, any gamers the membership components methods with to scale back payroll will certainly create new holes that have to be stuffed, leaving A.J. Preller and the membership’s entrance workplace in a little bit of a pickle.
One avenue the Padres may use to scale back payroll this yr runs by Luis Arraez. The membership acquired the 27-year-old again in Could, and he typically performed pretty effectively throughout his time in San Diego this yr with a .318/.346/.398 slash line that was good for a 111 wRC+ and earned him the third consecutive batting title of his profession. A contact savant who has managed to scale back his already spectacular 10% strikeout price from 2021 to 7.1% in 2022, 5.4% in 2023, and 4.3% this previous yr, Arraez struck out an unbelievable 3.4% of the time throughout his time with the Padres. As an above-average hitter who’s extra dependable than anybody else within the recreation in terms of placing the bat on the ball, it’s simple to see why Arraez has been enticing sufficient to golf equipment that each the Marlins and Padres have given up important packages to land him lately.
That preternatural knack for contact is held again by Arraez’s lackluster plate self-discipline inflicting his stroll price to say no steadily alongside his strikeout price through the years and a whole lack of energy, nonetheless. Each of these flaws had been on full show in 2024, as Arraez walked at a 3.6% clip with an ISO of .078, which each ranked third from the underside amongst certified main league hitters. It’s doable that the thumb harm Arraez performed by this yr earlier than present process surgical procedure in October may have impacted him within the energy division, however even his career-high .115 ISO with the Marlins final yr landed simply exterior the underside ten amongst certified hitters. Between these flaws in his hitting profile and his lackluster protection that largely restricted him to first base and DH with the Padres, it’s additionally simple to see why each the Twins and Marlins had been keen to half methods with him on the commerce market lately.
May Arraez be dealt for the third yr in a row this winter? Doing so is probably the only path to slashing a major chunk of payroll for the Padres. Stop and King are each projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for hefty arbitration salaries, however neither reaches the $14.6M determine Arraez is at present penciled in for. Clearing that cash off the books would drop the Padres’ payroll to round $195M. Whereas San Diego would then want to switch Arraez at first base headed into subsequent yr, quite a lot of bats on the place together with former Padres Josh Bell, Ty France and Anthony Rizzo determine to be out there for a relative discount this winter, which means it must be pretty simple for the membership to switch Arraez within the lineup and nonetheless come out $10M-12M forward, to not point out that the return for Arraez’s companies may assist to plug holes within the rotation or outfield. These motivations behind a possible deal had been sufficient to land Arraez the seventeenth spot on MLBTR’s Prime 35 offseason commerce candidates listing.
With that being mentioned, a commerce of Arraez isn’t the one possibility on the Padres’ disposal as they search for methods to pare down payroll. He’s already indicated this winter that he can be open to an extension with the membership this winter as he stares down his last yr underneath crew management earlier than free company, and the Padres have commonly labored out contracts that supply the membership further monetary flexibility within the short-term and the participant further safety in the long run up to now. That features offers that comes collectively simply earlier than a participant is because of attain free company, such because the extensions they’ve provided to Darvish and Manny Machado lately.
If Arraez had been amenable to it, it’s simple to think about the Padres back-loading the deal to scale back his 2025 wage considerably and/or providing a decrease AAV over a long run in an effort to duck underneath the luxurious tax threshold. As one instance, a six-year deal price $60M would include an AAV of simply $10M, permitting the membership to shave ~$4.6M of its anticipated luxurious tax invoice for 2025. In the meantime, if the deal was structured such that Arraez made simply $5M within the first yr of the deal adopted by $11M salaries over the remainder of the contract, that may provide the Padres almost $10M in financial savings on their 2025 payroll as in comparison with his arbitration wage — a determine not that completely different than what they’d save by buying and selling him and changing him with a low-cost veteran.
These numbers are purely hypothetical, in fact, and it’s actually doable Arraez wouldn’t wish to lock right into a cope with such a comparatively low annual wage with out first seeing what’s out there to him on the open market. That’s not the one flaw within the plan of extending Arraez, both; whereas a cope with an analogous construction to the one talked about above can be a significant assist in fixing San Diego’s fast payroll issues for 2025, in a longer-term view it merely kicks the can down the highway to subsequent season when Arraez’s wage would shoot up by $6M and will depart the membership in the identical monetary jam it finds itself in now.
