After filing for a salary of $12 million, reigning National League batting champion Luis Arraez was beaten by the Miami Marlins in his arbitration hearing. He'll make $10.6 million in 2024.
Per reporter Daniel Alvarez-Montez on social media:
Luis Arráez will earn $10.6M, which is the amount the #Marlins filed and that the arbitrator decided. He had filed for $12M, sources tell @ElExtrabase.
The 26-year-old Arraez is coming off an incredible 2023 season in which he flirted with the .400 batting average for months. He ended up hitting .354 with a .393 on-base percentage to win the batting title - his second in a row.
What's amazing though is that Arraez won those batting titles in different leagues. He was a member of the Minnesota Twins in 2022 and Miami in 2023.
Lifetime, he's a .326 hitter with a .379 on-base percentage. Going to arbitration is widely viewed as a negative development for players and team relationships, so it remains to be seen how this will impact Arraez and the Marlins moving forward.
Arraez has to go through the arbitration process next offseason as well. He'll be due another raise, so perhaps it's possible that the Marlins trade Arraez in an effort to save money and recoup prospects.
Miami won 84 games last season and advanced to the playoffs as a wild card team. They were swept in two games in the wild card round by the Philadelphia Phillies.
This offseason, the team has seen slugger Jorge Soler exit in free agency and they'll miss former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara, who is out for the season with Tommy John surgery.
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