The San Diego Padres are close to reaching a deal to acquire second baseman Luis Arraez from the Miami Marlins for reliever Woo-Suk Go and prospects Dillon Head, Jakob Marsee and Nathan Martorella, a source told ESPN’s Jeff Passan Friday night.
The trade is pending a medical review but is expected to be finalized soon.
The transaction represents the first major step for the Marlins since Peter Bendix took over as the team’s president of baseball operations last November following the departure of Kim Ng. This marks the beginning of the Marlins’ destruction of an underachieving team that produced the third-worst record in the majors at 9-24 with a minus-59 run differential after reaching the playoffs in 2023.
On the other side, it’s another aggressive deal for AJ Preller, the Padres’ front office leader since 2014. Arraez, one of the best contact hitters in the sport, will give the Padres a needed left-handed hitting weapon after that Juan Soto was sent to the New York Yankees in December. San Diego is 16-18 with a neutral run differential, 4.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West standings.
Arraez, 27, was the Marlins’ best player, an All-Star and batting champion each of the last two seasons. This season, he is hitting .299 with a .719 OPS in 33 games, all started at second base. He also has extensive experience at first base.
Arraez is expected to start games as the Padres’ designated hitter, but the club plans to move through the DH position. Jake Cronenworth, Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado could also be there. Bogaerts served as the club’s starting second baseman.
Go spent seven seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) before signing a two-year contract with a mutual option worth $4.5 million guaranteed during the offseason. The 25-year-old right-hander appeared in 10 games for Double-A San Antonio, posting a 4.38 ERA in 12 ⅓ innings.
Head was the Padres’ first-round pick (25th overall) last year out of high school. The 19-year-old centerfielder is hitting .237 with a .683 OPS and three stolen bases in 21 games in low-A.
Martorella is batting .294 with a .282 OPS in 23 games in San Antonio. The Padres selected the 23-year-old first baseman in the fifth round of the 2022 draft. Marsee, a 22-year-old outfielder, spent the season in San Antonio with a .185 batting average with two home runs. He was a 2022 sixth-round pick out of Central Michigan.
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