Arraez '100 percent' interested in extension, but no talks yet

JUPITER, Fla. – Spring Training doesn’t just mark the beginning of baseball season, but also extension season.

The Marlins have a prime candidate in reigning two-time batting champion Luis Arraez, who revealed on Monday that the club has not approached him with talk of an extension.

Arraez, who turns 27 on April 9, recently lost his arbitration hearing to the Marlins. According to El ExtraBase, he will make $10.6 million in 2024. Arraez has one more year of arbitration eligibility before he can test the free-agent market following the '25 season.

“Not yet,” Arraez said. “We just went to the arbitration. Business is business. I'm here now to help my team win, and then make the playoffs first, and then go to the World Series, and let's see what happens.”

In his first season with the Marlins, Arraez set career highs for games (147), home runs (10), RBIs (69), average (.354), slugging percentage (.469) and OPS (.861). He was the National League's starting second baseman at the All-Star Game, earned a Silver Slugger Award and finished eighth in NL MVP Award voting. Arraez also recorded the first cycle in franchise history.

“100 percent yes,” Arraez said of wanting an extension. “I love Miami. My family's here. Everybody lives in Miami. I love the fans. They support me a lot. I love the uniform. Let's see what happens.”

Added principal owner Bruce Sherman on Tuesday ahead of the club’s first full-squad workout: “We love Luis Arraez. Congratulated him in front of his teammates on winning the batting title. I look forward to giving him that Silver Slugger Award. And you probably noticed his batting average at .354 was the highest batting average in the Major Leagues in the last 13 years. So we love Luis Arraez.”

The last time Miami agreed to an extension with an arbitration-eligible player was during the 2021-22 offseason, when the organization signed ace Sandy Alcantara to a five-year deal worth $56 million.

“I love that he wants to stay here,” president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said of Arraez. “I would much prefer players want to stay here than not. That's the kind of culture that we're building, and those conversations happen in due time. That's something that we're going to keep internal, but it's really meaningful when you have really good players who want to be here.”

Miami has a handful of versatile infielders on the 40-man roster in Jon Berti, Jonah Bride, Xavier Edwards and Vidal Bruján with varying degrees of MLB experience and club control. None has the resume of Arraez. Jacob Amaya (No. 5) and Yiddi Cappe (No. 7) are the highest-ranking prospects in Miami's system who have played second base in the Minors. Amaya, who made his MLB debut in 2023, is a natural shortstop with limited time at second. Cappe, who started his pro career as a shortstop/third baseman, appeared at second for the first time in ’23 and went on to play there 90 times for High-A Beloit.