The Twins and Marlins completed a trade that sends infielder Luis Arraez for pitcher Pablo Lopez and two prospects:
The deal, variations of which the teams have discussed for months, brings a much needed bat to the Marlins, adding to their winter signing of Jean Segura, who’s expected to play third base.
The cost was significant, though. In addition to Lopez, a talented starter who slots in toward the top of Minnesota’s rotation, the Marlins will send shortstop Jose Salas and outfielder Byron Chourio, two well-regarded teenagers, to the Twins.
ESPN.com
Salas plays as a twenty year old in 2023 and owns a .356 MiLB OBP so far, playing at high A ball in 2022. Chourio plays as an eighteen year old in 2023, and posted a .429 OBP in rookie league in 2022. I suspect he has more upside of the two prospects.
The Marlins get a hitter who fits their park. Arraez puts the ball in play with authority. He struck out just 137 times in his 389 MLB career, and draws a decent number of walks but little power. Since the Marlins home park hurts home runs, the Marlins should be trying to stuff the bases with as many runners as possible to move people around. Arraez is also in his early prime years.
The trade also causes Jazz Chisholm to move to the outfield.
The Marlins used a solid rotation to acquire the player, the Twins getting a solid starter who showed last year he can go the distance for the season. He limits walks and home runs. He also limits hits with a decent K rate. It’s exactly the type of trade where both teams likely come out winners.
There was also this from the story:
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Arraez is the first player to win a batting championship and then be traded in the offseason since Rod Carew won the AL batting title in 1978 with the Twins and then was traded to the Angels ahead of the 1979 season.
ESPN.com
I suspect this trade will work out better for the Twins. Minnesota received four players in the Carew deal. Ken Landreaux gave Minnesota a couple of good years, but then was traded away for more players who didn’t contribute. I suspect Twins fans are much happier with this deal.
I’m very interested to see if the Marlins farm system starts developing more players like Arraez. We’ll see if they can develop into the 2002 Angels.
The Twins fans I know are not very happy with the deal, because Arraez is a very popular player. I understand it, though. The Twins do need pitching, and they can probably replace Arraez’ offense. What concerns me about it is that Arraez was about the only player in the lineup whose goal was to get on base, rather than to hit the ball over the fence. I’m old-fashioned enough to think you need a couple of good on-base guys at the top of the lineup for the sluggers to bring in. If you don’t, you end up hitting a lot of solo homers.
But the deal is done, so I guess we’ll see. They did get a good pitcher back for him, and there’s really no way to know about the two prospects. Time will tell.