We are saying 28 is past prime for baseball players?
I think we’re saying 28 is past Arraez’s prime.
He had 19 fewer hits than in 2024. He still led the league in hits (was 3 behind Witt who led all of baseball in hits). He’s still doing what he does.
And that’s really not enough. Of his impressive amount of hits, only 42 of them were for extra bases. Witt had 73 extra base hits. That matters a lot.
You changing the question? I was answering whether he was past his prime. His numbers were slightly down from the year before but he still led the league in hits.
He’s really not though. In his two high-value seasons he got 173 and 203 hits, but he did it in around 600-620 plate appearances.
You’re right that last year he still got 181 hits, but it took him 675 PAs to do that. That’s a lot of extra outs.
Also in those years (2022-2023) he slugged .420 and .469. Last year he slugged .392.
He’s “doing what he does” in the sense that he’s still swinging a lot and making a lot of contact. But the success rate is going down, when he does make contact it’s for less power, and he still plays poor defense (and at a non-premium position).
I could be wrong and he might put up another 2+ WAR season, but I’d bet against it.
I’m not changing the question. Arraez has gone from making good-not-great contact to making below average contact over the last 3 years. Weak slap hits do a bad job of advancing runners, including the batter-runner. His defense has gotten noticeably worse, going from just bad to truly terrible. If you see a career that isn’t on the downswing, “he got a lot of hits” isn’t an adequate defense of it.
Three-team trade:
Mariners get IF Brendan Donovan from St. Louis.
St. Louis gets Seattle right-handed starter Jurrangelo Cijntje, and outfield prospect Tai Peete. They also acquire Colton Ledbetter from Tampa Bay and two competitive balance round B picks, one from Seattle, one from Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay gets third baseman Ben Williamson from Seattle.