Gavin Lux trade makes Yankees' ideal Gleyber Torres replacement painfully obvious

In recent days, the New York Yankees discussed trades for two second base options: Gavin Lux of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Luis Arraez of the San Diego Padres. With Lux now headed to Cincinnati, Arraez remains their sole current infield target – and that may be great for the Yankees.

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Luis Arraez makes perfect sense for the Yankees

Despite his promising talent, Lux has struggled during his five-year Dodgers tenure. He has also had his struggles with injury, missing all of 2023 with a knee injury. Arraez, on the other hand, is coming off a stretch where he won three straight batting titles.

In 2024, Arraez slashed .314/.346/.392/.739 with four home runs through 637 at-bats, posting an NL-best 200 hits. The past three years saw the coveted infielder hit .316, .354 and .314 respectively, winning Silver Sluggers in 2022 and 2023. Arraez is not a feared home run hitter, the kind that the Yankees love to stack the lineup with, though the short right porch will help him boost his meager power numbers at least a bit. Still, Arraez brings more to the table than just his stellar batting averages; during his stretch of winning three batting titles, his doubles totals have not dipped below 30.

Despite not being a plus defender at second base, Arraez’s four errors stand in stark contrast to Gleyber Torres’ 18. However, Arraez ranked among the worst in outs above average with a -7 at second base last season. Along with this, there is one more downside: Arraez is currently on the final year of his contract. As the Yankees learned with Juan Soto, trading players with years of control for a one-year rental player can be risky. However, with the leftover Soto money still on hand, the Yankees could readily afford to extend him, which might be a great idea.

If acquired by the Yanks, his bat would fill a pivotal role New York currently lacks. Arraez would capably fill the leadoff spot, serving as the perfect table-setter for Aaron Judge and the other Yankee sluggers. His high contact rates (best in MLB last year) would work to offset the Yankees’ strikeout-heavy batting order. Adding Arraez would immediately bolster New York’s chances at winning the World Series next season.