The 2026 San Francisco Giants are a very bad baseball team. I was one of the last to be convinced, a frazzled lab assistant staring at a chalkboard and whining, “But according to these calculations …” as the flames behind him started to lick the ceiling.I’ve come around, though. Woof, this team is a stinker.As such, there’s a lot of business to get into. There’s a trade deadline that’s only a few dozen shopping days away, and there’s a lineup to reshape. They should listen to offers on everybody — everybody — while realistically expecting to trade a couple rentals and/or lower-cost players.Before all that, though, the Giants should take one of the few veterans who aren’t on a bad contract and give him one.It’s not going to happen, and I fully expect Luis Arraez to be traded at the deadline. That makes this more of a thought experiment or a way to sneak in some extra appreciation for him. Except it’s not a galaxy-brained, seven-dimensional exercise in contrarianism, and it’s not a tongue-in-cheek bit. Even though the farm system is overstuffed with middle infielders, the Giants should still lock up a 29-year-old middle infielder. They should do it for baseball reasons.There will be a longer argument below, but I get it; we’re in a skim-for-bold-print society, so here’s the thesis statement: I can’t imagine a Giants team over the next five years in which Arraez wouldn’t fit. The team in every permutation, every scenario, would benefit from more Arraez, whether it’s the current version or the older player still around at the end of his next contract. A rebuilding team, a reloading team, a contending team or a dynastic team: every single one of them could benefit from a jovial and energetic left-handed base-hit guy.Luis Arraez isn’t just a good ballplayer; he’s the kind of ballplayer other ballplayers tend to gravitate toward. (Robert Edwards / Imagn Images)This is because every single team in baseball can benefit from a jovial and energetic left-handed base-hit guy. This isn’t a modern invention; baseball teams have known this since the beginning of the sport. For a couple of decades, there were only two types of left-handed base-hit guys: jovial ones and ornery ones, with every World Series winner maintaining the proper balance. It doesn’t matter what era you’re looking at — dead ball, post-expansion, 21st century, et cetera — there’s a jovial and energetic left-handed base-hit guy on the best teams, smiling like Jack Torrance in the photo at the end of “The Shining.”What if Jhonny Level and Luis Rodríguez and Josuar González all push their way to the majors in another couple of years? Well, then it sounds like the Giants have a great problem: here’s a veteran who can help mentor them. His position is “hitter,” and the team will figure it out. When it’s time for him to spray base hits all over the outfield, the team will say, “Go out there and hit,” and then he will do so, verily. They might even designate him as a hitter of some sort if the need arose.What about Casey Schmitt and Matt Chapman, especially considering the latter’s contract? Schmitt’s best position is likely third base, but he’d probably ease into second base with enough time. Committing to Arraez complicates this arrangement, leading to things like Schmitt in left field, with mixed results.They’ll figure it out. Arraez is a jovial and energetic left-handed base-hit guy, and he’s apparently flexible enough defensively to reinvent himself at second base; it’s not implausible to think he could survive at third base or in the outfield if the roster needs dictated it. Heck, sign him to one of those Tim Wakefield-type contracts, with a perpetual team option, because you know he’s going to play until he’s 45 and become the mayor of whatever town he’s in the longest.There’s another, almost as important argument to consider, which is an appeal to aesthetics. Arraez makes baseball fun to watch. He treats every pitch like a final-boss battle, and he looks like he’s having fun doing it. He talks to himself and gestures and twitches and gabs, and it’s outstanding baseball theater. Beyond the body language, the experience of a high-average player in a low-average era is delightful. He’s a player who makes you think “single” every time he’s up, and a third of the time, he makes you feel smart. Those are mighty fine odds in baseball.The most important argument of all, though, is that in addition to being a jovial and energetic left-handed base-hit guy, he’s one of the most popular players in baseball among his peers. You can see it in his interactions with opposing players, with his MLB teammates, with his teammates in the World Baseball Classic. He’s someone they seek out, horse around with or otherwise chat up. You’re telling me that kind of personality profile, in addition to being the left-handed base-hit guy, doesn’t have a spot on a rebuilding team? Or a contending team? Or a team in 1973? Or a team in 2083? Oh, he’ll be there, assuming robo-hips are allowed. They’ll probably have to be, especially if they can double as a flotation device, what with the sea level rising at Oracle Park. (Arraez will hit .310 with the floaty-robo-hip.)This is all Arraez propaganda, yes, but the argument holds. If you’re imagining a rebuilding team that’s prospects upon prospects, top to bottom, with nobody over the age of 25, remember that those teams never exist. The 1998 Marlins weren’t even one of those teams, and no team tore its roster down to the foundation more than that one. The “You Gotta Like These Kids”-era Giants had lots of veterans (including Mike Krukow).An extension would be a gamble that Arraez is better at being The Veteran on a rebuilding team than whatever veteran is available at a comparable price. I’ll take that gamble, especially considering he’s a jovial and energetic left-handed base-hit guy, something all baseball teams can use. Two boxes checked off the ol’ rebuilding checklist! Oh, how the singles and tutelage will fly.Again, it’s not going to happen. He’s gone, to single-‘n’-shimmy his way into the hearts of another fan base, for what the Giants hope will be a Camilo Doval-like haul. If Arraez is traded, he’ll be a fit for roughly every contender, so you can hope for a semi-delirious bidding war. And maybe that’s the smart play.Here’s a chance to keep a guy who would be good at baseballing in any capacity you ask him to baseball for the next several years — and he would do it in a way that would help others baseball better, too. Call me a sap, call me a dreamer or call me a fool for anyone — ANYONE — who can hit better than .240, but I’ve talked myself into it. The Giants might be going in strange, new directions, and they can always get worse for an extended period of time. But even in every one of those scenarios, Arraez fits. This is far from the most important problem facing the Giants right now, but it’s an easy win that’s right in front of them. And those haven’t come around often these days.