Miami Marlins need to extend a key hitter

The Miami Marlins made a big trade with the Minnesota Twins during the off-season. Starting pitcher Pablo Lopez was traded for second baseman Luis Arraez. On the heels of another series win, it may be time for The Fish to extend Arraez. Should the Miami Marlins attempt to do this? How much would it cost? Let's analyze the possibility of The Fish extending the star second baseman in the near future.

The Miami Marlins should extend Luis Arraez.

Luis Arraez is 26 years old and is not even yet in his prime. He's a free agent after the 2025 season. The first question is should the Miami Marlins extend him? Arraez is an elite contact hitter, who has a career .319/.379/.418 batting line. In 2019-2022 he batted .314/.374/.410 in 389 games and 1413 AB. He won the AL Batting Title last season, after batting .316/.375/.420 in 144 games and 547 AB. He's currently batting .455/.508/.618.

Arraez won't keep batting over .400 this season, but it's clear that he's elite at getting on base and as I mentioned earlier hitting for contact. He also doesn't strikeout much, which is yet another great asset with him. The highest total of strikeouts that he's had in a season had been 48 in 2021. 48! He's simply an OBP machine that is very hard to get out.

Of course there are downsides with Luis Arraez too... One of them is his lack of power. The highest amount of home runs that he's hit in his entire career is 8 in 2022. Just as impressive as his lack of strikeouts has been, his lack of hitting home runs is just as impressive. I don't think that he really needs to hit home runs to be useful as a hitter, but it's definitely something that traditionally affects a hitter's pay.

Another question with Arraez is his defense. He's not known to be a particularly good defender at second base, and is probably better off at first base. A first baseman without power is not particularly in demand, but a batting champ is definitely worth a high amount. Sooo how much is he worth?

I think that it makes sense to offer him 7 years/$105 million (basically $15 million a year), and see if he's interested.