The San Francisco Giants are having a rough season. Nobody is pretending otherwise. They sit well back in the standings, the playoffs are a distant thought, and the front office has some real decisions to make before the MLB trade deadline hits.
One of those decisions involves Luis Arraez. The 29-year-old infielder has been an All-Star again this year — his fourth selection — and he’s hitting .330 with a .369 on-base percentage and a .460 slugging across 91 games. He’s been everything the Giants could have hoped for when they signed him to a one-year deal last offseason. Which is exactly why reporter Susan Slusser thinks they have to trade him.
“I hate seeing Luis Arraez go as much as anybody,” Slusser said on KNBR. “It’s gonna hurt but he could bring back something and you gotta do that.”
She didn’t stop there. Slusser went further, saying it would be “malpractice” for the Giants to hold onto Arraez and watch him walk for nothing in free agency. Her point is simple: if you’re out of contention and you’ve got a rental player putting up numbers like this, you move him while the market is hot. Otherwise you’re burning value for no reason.
The Logic Behind Moving Arraez
Arraez signed a one-year contract with San Francisco this offseason. That means he’s a free agent at the end of the year. And if the Giants don’t trade him now, they’ll get exactly zero in return when he signs elsewhere this winter. Zero. That’s a tough pill to swallow for a team that isn’t competing this season.
Trading him would bring back prospects or young talent. Maybe not a franchise-changer, but something useful. Slusser argues that passing that up isn’t just bad business — it’s negligence. “It’s malpractice for this team, when you’re out of contention, not to trade a free agent who has succeeded to (Arraez’s) extent,” she said.
Arraez isn’t the reason the Giants are struggling. Far from it. He’s been one of the few bright spots in a lineup that has underperformed across the board. His bat has been reliable, his contact skills are elite, and he’s proven he can handle second base day in and day out. Some contender is going to want that.
What Happens Next
The trade deadline isn’t here yet, but Arraez is already one of the most talked-about names on the market. Teams looking for a proven hitter who can get on base and hit for average will be making calls. The Giants haven’t tipped their hand publicly, but Slusser’s comments reflect a pretty widespread feeling around the sport: keeping Arraez makes no sense for a team going nowhere.
For now, San Francisco has a game Friday night against the Mariners at 10:10 PM EST. But the real action will happen in the front office over the next few weeks. The Giants have a decision to make. Slusser and plenty of others think they already know the right one.
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