PHILADELPHIA, PA — The best contact hitter in baseball, Luis Arraez, has been traded to the Phillies on Monday, hours ahead of Major League Baseball's trade deadline, the club announced. It will lead to a major shakeup of the Phillies roster as they look to a World Series run this fall.
Arraez was acquired from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for the Phillies fourth best prospect, Ramon Marquez, and reliever Marty Gair, Bob Nightengale of USA Today first reported. The Phillies also received young relief pitcher Caleb Killian from the Giants.
In a separate deal, the Phillies traded for star relief pitcher Brooks Raley from the New York Mets, the NY Post's Jon Heyman first reported, sending over lower ranked prospects Luke Gabrysh and John Spikerman.
Almost assuredly, the Phillies will keep Arraez at second base, his favored position where has received excellent marks with the glove. Bryson Stott, a versatile defender, will move from second to third base. Alec Bohm will likely move to first base. And most notable of all, this trade will push Bryce Harper from first base back into right field, solving the Phillies need for another big outfield bat.
Arraez, 29, is a three time batting champion and is on his way to a fourth this year, leading the National League in batting average at .324. His .801 OPS this year is among the best marks of his career.
He's a left handed hitter, so the move makes the Phillies even more lefty-heavy, but it's rendered moot because he hits left handed pitching as well as right handers. He could become the Phillies new leadoff man, with a starting lineup looking like this:
1. Arraez 2B, 2. Trea Turner SS, 3. Bryce Harper RF, 4. Kyle Schwarber DH, 5. Alec Bohm 1B, 6. Brandon Marsh LF, 7. JT Realmuto C, 8. Bryson Stott 3B, 9. Justin Crawford/Derek Hill, CF
Raley has a 1.96 ERA across 41.1 innings this year, along with 40 strikeouts. It's a huge boost for the Phillies bullpen, which needed another high end option to help bridge the gap to Jhoan Duran in the ninth inning. Raley will likely become the number two behind Duran, slotting just ahead of Jonathan Bowlan, Orion Kerkering, and Jose Alvarado as the Phillies most trusted bullpen arms.
Killian will join Tim Mayza and Seth Johnson in the next mid-relief tier of arms.
Both Arraez and Raley will be free agents at the end of the season, so they are pure rentals.
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