Dodgers go all in, Yankees come up short as MLB trade deadline passes
Bob Nightengale breaks down why the Dodgers won the MLB trade deadline after landing Tarik Skubal, plus other winners and losers.
Sports Pulse
- Bryce Harper will play right field for the first time since April 2022.
Luis Arraez said he hadn’t slept in days. He didn’t know where he was going, and then he was traveling and arriving in Philadelphia. He walked to the batters’ box and the 40,000 at Citizens Bank Park rose and welcomed him to the Phillies.
He gave them something more to cheer about in a hurry. Arraez drove in a run in his first at-bat as a Phille and finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs in Philadelphia’s 5-0 win over Washington on Aug. 4.
“I was excited, especially when the fans got up for me,” Arraez said. “It’s amazing. They welcomed me here, and then for me to do my thing here, and thank God we won the game.”
Arraez came over from San Francisco at Monday’s deadline in a trade that moved three Phillies to new positions to clear second base for him. Bryce Harper played right field for the first time in more than four years on Tuesday, Aug. 4. And that was not even the strangest thing about this Philadelphia Phillies lineup.
Newly acquired Arraez hit cleanup.
The Phillies got the National League batting leader and had to also move Alec Bohm from third to first and Bryson Stott, their everyday second baseman, to third. Arraez gets second, which was the whole point. He told interested teams he had prepared his body to play there and nowhere else.
Arraez is hitting .325 with four home runs, 45 RBIs and an .804 OPS. His career high for homers is 10. Almost every projection published after the trade had him leading off, and for good reason. He was leading off for the San Francisco Giants as recently as last weekend. Leadoff is the spot where he has taken more plate appearances than anywhere else in his career, and he owns a .364 on-base percentage there.
“I want to split them a little bit, the lefties, as much as we can, instead of putting three together,” Phillies manager Don Mattingly told reporters. “But at the top, you don’t really know how it’s gonna pop out the fifth at-bat. It could be second and third and you want a guy who can get you a base hit. You could be down by three runs, second and third, and you want somebody who could hit the ball out of the ballpark. It’s kind of where we’re starting, we’ll see how it goes.”
The logic comes down to who is hitting in front of him. Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Harper get on base. Arraez does not strike out, and this offense strikes out plenty. Since 2019 nobody in baseball has put the bat on the ball more often or hit for a higher average. Bat him fourth and the inning keeps going instead of dying on a swing and a miss.
The trouble is what he does when he makes contact. He rarely walks, and last season his hard-hit rate was the worst among qualified hitters. So was his barrel rate. Cleanup men usually do one thing or the other – Arraez does neither.
“Not easily, really,” Mattingly acknowledged. “I didn’t really know which way to go with it. I don’t think I can really mess it up either way. But yeah, for now, it’s kind of where we’re gonna start.”
In the third inning and his second at-bat in the red pinstripes, Arraez picked up his second hit and second RBI.
He hit a scorching grounder past the first baseman for a double to score Trea Turner for a second time in three innings and give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.
Manager Don Mattingly had to explain why he hit him fourth instead of leading off. The decision raised eyebrows for a guy with four home runs. Through three innings, the logic is holding.
Luis Arraez needed one at-bat to look like he belonged in Philly.
The three-time batting champion picked up his first hit as a Phillie on Tuesday night, lining a single to center field to score Trea Turner. He gave Philadelphia a 1-0 lead.
After hours of debating how he would fit into the Phillies lineup, Arraez showed why Bryce Harper was willing to make the switch from first base back to right field. Speaking of Harper, the very first play of the game was made by Harper, back in right field, where he had not played in more than four years. He caught a Dylan Crews line drive for the first out.
- Kyle Schwarber (L) DH
- Trea Turner (R) SS
- Bryce Harper (L) RF
- Luis Arraez (L) 2B
- Alec Bohm (R) 1B
- J.T. Realmuto (R) C
- Brandon Marsh (L) LF
- Bryson Stott (L) 3B
- Justin Crawford (L) CF
Pitching: Jesus Luzardo (LHP)
How to watch Luis Arraez’s first game with the Phillies
The Phillies host the Nationals at 6:40 p.m. ET Tuesday, Aug. 4 at Citizens Bank Park. The game airs on NBC Sports Philadelphia in the Phillies market and on the Nationals network in Washington, with out-of-market coverage on MLB.TV. It also streams on Fubo.TV, which is currently offering a free trial.
Watch Phillies-Nationals on Fubo (free trial)
The Phillies announced a series of roster moves before Tuesday’s game against the Nationals.
Arraez was obviously activated and he will wear No.4 for the Phillies. Right-hander Caleb Kilian, who came over from San Francisco in the Arraez deal, reported to the Phillies and will wear No.56. Left-hander Brooks Raley, who the Phillies acquired from the Mets, reported and will wear No.30.
Left-hander Kyle Backhus was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Outfielder Gabriel Rincones Jr. was optioned to Lehigh Valley after Monday night’s game. Right-hander Seth Johnson was acquired by the Athletics.
The alignment the Phillies spent all pregame explaining probably won’t survive the whole game. Manager Don Mattingly admitted that there will probably have to be defensive substitutions.
He told reporters before the game that they have already talked through late-game scenarios, where Harper goes back to first base or just taking him out for a defensive replacement as long as his spot in the lineup is not coming up.
So, the Phillies are admitting that this is an uncomfortable defensive lineup.