Among baseball fans, the phrase “hug watch” has a specific, well-known connotation. Every year around the trade deadline, major league stars and minor league prospects are “on watch” to hug their teammates in the dugout or on the field — the surest sign a trade is afoot.
This year’s Major League Baseball trade deadline is three months away. That didn’t stop San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller from swinging a surprise trade for a two-time All-Star on Friday.
Luis Arraez, the Marlins’ 27-year-old second baseman, was minutes away from playing in that night’s game against the Oakland A’s when he learned he had been traded to San Diego.
Arraez, whom the Marlins acquired from the Minnesota Twins for Pablo López in Jan. 2023, made his way through the Marlins’ dugout at the Coliseum shaking teammates’ hands, offering hugs and goodbyes.
Cameras caught Arraez in the visitors’ dugout in Oakland ostensibly processing the news:
Meanwhile in San Antonio, the trade had a more dramatic effect. Prospect Nathan Martorella, one of the four Padres prospects going to Miami in the trade, was literally standing on second base when San Antonio Missions manager Luke Montz caught wind of the news.
Montz had to request time out, explain the situation to the umpire, and then remove a confused Martorella in the middle of the Double-A game:
Nathan Martorella was … very confused about why he was pulled for a pinch runner for Double-A San Antonio.
He and Jakob Marsee left the game with a series of hugs shortly after. pic.twitter.com/OOAtmQVp7X
— Sam Dykstra (@SamDykstraMiLB) May 4, 2024
Martorella, infielder Jakob Marsee, and pitcher Woo-Suk Go were all on the San Antonio roster when the trade went down. A fourth Padres prospect, outfielder Dillon Head, was on the roster of the Class-A Lake Elsinore Storm but was not on the field when the trade was completed.
Arraez wasted no time warming up to his new teammates. He went 4 for 6 in his Padres debut Saturday in Arizona, then collected a single the following day.
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – MAY 03: Luis Arraez #3 of the Miami Marlins talks with teammates in the dugout before the game against the Oakland Athletics at Oakland Coliseum on May 03, 2024 in Oakland, California….
Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images
Arraez is hitting .311 this season, in line with his career average of .325. The two-time Silver Slugger Award winner was among the few bright spots on a Marlins team that struggled mightily out of the gate.
On a conference call with reporters Saturday, Bendix was frank about his reasons for making the trade at an unusual juncture in the season.
“This is an extremely competitive industry, with a lot of very smart people trying to achieve the same thing, winning a World Series,” Bendix said. “In order to get this organization where it needs to be to winning 90-plus games year in and year out, it takes difficult decisions.”
The Marlins lost to the A’s 20-4 on Saturday.
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