{"id":505470,"date":"2026-01-04T19:50:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T19:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/505470\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T19:50:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T19:50:19","slug":"luis-arraez-sends-message-to-jackson-merrill-after-second-season-with-padres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/505470\/","title":{"rendered":"Luis Arraez Sends Message to Jackson Merrill After Second Season With Padres"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Diego Padres<\/a> will look to remain competitive next year despite general manager A.J. Preller operating with far more limited payroll flexibility in free agency.<\/p>\n

The club managed to retain right-handed starter Michael King, but former frontline arm Dylan Cease departed to join the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Fortunately for San Diego, the roster still features a wealth of young, emerging talent, highlighted by outfielder Jackson Merrill. The 22-year-old has quickly established himself as one of the Padres\u2019 most valuable players, contributing both defensively and at the plate.<\/p>\n

Merrill did take a slight step back last season, finishing with a .264 batting average, .317 on-base percentage, .774 OPS, 16 home runs and 67 RBIs across 115 games. Even so, those numbers remain strong, and the Padres continue to view him as a key piece with significant upside.<\/p>\n

In his rookie campaign, Merrill finished ninth in NL MVP voting while earning an All-Star selection and a Silver Slugger Award.<\/p>\n

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\"San<\/p>\n

San Diego Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill (3)\u00a9 David Frerker-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

During Merrill\u2019s time in San Diego, Luis Arraez<\/a> has served as a veteran presence in the clubhouse, and the two have built a strong connection. Arraez remains a free agent this winter, leaving the door open for a possible reunion with the Padres, though he has yet to sign.<\/p>\n

As the calendar turned to 2026, Merrill took to social media to reflect on the past season and look ahead to the new year. In the comment section, Arraez left a message for Merrill. \u201cLove u my brother \u2764\ufe0f\u2764\ufe0f,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n

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\"MLB<\/p>\n

MLB free agent Luis Arraez sends a message to Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill on Jan. 1, 2026&commat;arraezluis on Instagram<\/p>\n

A reunion with Arraez could make sense for San Diego given the circumstances of this offseason. Preller is operating with limited payroll flexibility, which makes high-priced free agents difficult to pursue.<\/p>\n

Arraez, however, may come at a more reasonable cost after a down year in which he posted a .292 batting average, .327 on-base percentage, .719 OPS, eight home runs and 61 RBIs.<\/p>\n

Despite those modest numbers compared to his peak, the market remains lower than expected for a player with his track record, which includes three batting titles, three All-Star selections and two Silver Sluggers.<\/p>\n

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At just 28 years old, Arraez could still have plenty of productive seasons ahead of him, and his ability to make consistent contact could provide balance to a Padres lineup built around young power bats.<\/p>\n

Having spent the past two years in San Diego after being acquired from the Miami Marlins<\/a>, he is already a familiar fit in the clubhouse.<\/p>\n

Related: Padres’ Yu Darvish Sends MLB Retirement Message on Monday<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jan 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the MLB<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Diego Padres will look to remain competitive next year despite general manager A.J. Preller operating with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2407],"tags":[5,76,871,85,58,87,4,43,137,18,4339,4338,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-505470","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego-padres","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-dylan-cease","10":"tag-jackson-merrill","11":"tag-luis-arraez","12":"tag-miami-marlins","13":"tag-michael-king","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-padres","16":"tag-san-diego","17":"tag-san-diego-padres","18":"tag-sandiego","19":"tag-sandiegopadres","20":"tag-toronto-blue-jays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115838571441477477","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}