Source - Padres nearing deal for Marlins 2B Luis Arraez - ESPN

The San Diego Padres are nearing a deal to acquire second baseman Luis Arraez from the Miami Marlins for reliever Woo-Suk Go and prospects Dillon Head, Jakob Marsee, and Nathan Martorella, a source told ESPN's Jeff Passan on Friday night.

The trade is pending medical review but is expected to be finalized soon.

The transaction represents the first significant move for the Marlins since Peter Bendix took over as the team's president of baseball operations last November after Kim Ng departed. It marks the beginning of the Marlins' teardown of an underachieving roster that has produced the third-worst record in the majors at 9-24 with a minus-59 run differential after reaching the postseason in 2023.

On the other side, it's another aggressive deal for A.J. Preller, the leader of the Padres' front office since 2014. Arraez, one of the sport's best contact hitters, will give the Padres a needed left-handed-hitting weapon after Juan Soto was sent to the New York Yankees in December. San Diego is 16-18 with a neutral run differential, 4.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West standings.

Arraez, 27, was the Marlins' best player, an All-Star and batting champion each of the last two seasons. This season, he is batting .299 with a .719 OPS in 33 games, all started at second base. He also has extensive experience at first base.

Arraez is expected to start games as the Padres' designated hitter, but the club plans to cycle through the DH spot. Jake Cronenworth, Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado could also get at-bats there. Bogaerts has been the club's starting second baseman.

Go spent seven seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) before signing a two-year deal with a mutual option worth $4.5