Inside The Pinstripes

Insider Sets the Record Straight About Yankees' Rumored Pursuit of Luis Arráez

Not all MLB insiders are in cahoots about how interested the New York Yankees are in Luis Arráez.

Grant Young

Oct 11, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; San Diego Padres first baseman Luis Arraez (4) reacts at bat in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game five of the NLDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Oct 11, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; San Diego Padres first baseman Luis Arraez (4) reacts at bat in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game five of the NLDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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It's no secret that the New York Yankees still have one major question mark to answer within their infield.

This is what they're going to do with either second base or third base, depending on where they want Jazz Chisholm Jr. to end up playing. Each day, it seems that there's another player who is reportedly linked or predicted to the Yankees so that they can fill this void.

In a January 6 article, ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan conveyed what would seem to be an elite option.

"The Yankees are unquestionably a deeper team -- and they're not done, either. They've continued to discuss Luis Arráez with San Diego," Passan wrote.

If Arráez — who is a three-time All-Star, has won a batting title in each of the past three seasons and hit .314 with a .738 OPS during the 2024 regular season with the Marlins and Padres — is indeed available to New York, it's easy to assume that they'd be interested.

Although not all insiders seem to agree on the Yankees' interest in Arráez, which Jon Heyman of the New York Post alluded to in a January 6 X post.

"Hearing at least for now Luis Arraez is not seen as a fit for Yankees," he wrote.

It will be interesting to see how this story continues to develop, as it's rare to hear two such prominent insiders within the baseball community dispute each other's reports on the same day.

Perhaps time will tell which of these two is correct on the Yankees' interest in Arráez.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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