With Luis Arraez’s Padres tenure ending, freshly signed Andujar may provide similar headaches.
The San Diego Padres finally made a splash in what has been an understandably slow 2026 offseason considering the team's active sale. Despite the signing, the move came in the form of patchwork as opposed to addition.
First base and DH option Luis Arraez departed for the bay on Jan. 31, signing a low risk one-year $12 million deal with the San Francisco Giants. Arraez, a premier contact bat, hit .304 in his 271 career games for the Padres. The 28-year old penciled in as a top of the lineup rally starter for Mike Shildt's squads over the last two seasons.Despite Arraez’s consistent bat on ball skills, the 28-year old is coming off a career worst season that exposed his biggest flaw; his lack of batting versatility. Arraez posted a career worst .292 batting average in his 154 games. He coupled that with a league average .719 OPS, the worst mark of his career as well. Bat on ball skill is Arraez’s best skill, he ranked in Baseball Savants 100th percentile in both K rate and Whiff %. Yet he placed in the 15th percentile in batting run value. This is due to his complete lack of slugging ability, which stems largely from his 1st percentile bat speed. Defensive value and base running are non-factors as well, with Arraez ranking in the 4th percentile in outs above average. Considering the departure of Arraez, the Padres were primed to fill the void of his bat with a more power centric DH such as the recently signed Marcel Ozuna.The Padres signed Andujar to a one-year $4 million dollar deal Feb. 11. The deal also includes a 2027 mutual option. Without considering the player, the deal makes sense, coming in at $8 million dollars cheaper than what Arraez received on the open market. Andujar is coming off of a career year, slashing .318/.352/.470 with 10 home runs in 94 games between the Athletics and the Cincinnati Reds. The numbers present themselves as quite the outlier on the stat sheet. 2025 was Andujar's first season playing 90 or more games since his rookie season in 2018. In all other seasons between 2018-2025, Andujar reached an OPS above .700 just once. The reasoning for Andujar's struggles lies in the underlying metrics. Similarly to Arraez, the now 30-year old’s walk rate is well below average. Even in his career 2025, he placed in the 10th percentile in walk rate. Andujar also shares Arraez talent at preventing whiffs and strikeouts, yet he also chases at a very high rate. The quality of contact is slightly improved, made evident by Andujar's 10 home runs in 94 games compared to Arraez’s 8 in 154, however Andujar still ranks in the bottom percentiles in quality of contact. Arraez also has the benefit of consistency to aid his case over Andujar. As mentioned, the former Red has struggled to stay on the field whereas Arraez has had practically the same style season every year since his debut in 2019. Despite the fresh ink on the Andujar deal, underlying metrics reveal a player with a very similar profile to the departed Arraez; a high contact yet poor on base player that struggles to make good contact. Andujar's impact and spot in the lineup remains to be seen, but peering under the hood should sway fans to be slightly skeptical regarding the newly acquired players 2026 impact.Born and raised in San Diego, California, Iain Henderson is a San Diego State student pursuing a degree in Journalism and Public Relations. He is also working towards a minor in communication. He hopes to land in the sports field of journalism after graduation, whether that be broadcasting or writing. Although he enjoys all sports, football, baseball and golf are his true loves. Outside of his work he enjoys working out, listening to his favorite music and golfing.
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