A way-too-early look at five SF Giants potential trade deadline chips

The SF Giants looked pretty good over the weekend, taking two out of three against the Marlins and coming within two games of an even .500 record at 13-15. There’s reason for optimism, but a realist will probably tell you the odds of the Giants making the postseason are still pretty long.

Casey Schmitt and Jung-Hoo Lee probably won’t keep riding their hot streaks forever, Rafael Devers may never be the star he was with the Red Sox, and the surprisingly good bullpen might devolve into what we thought it would be heading into the season. So if they continue to be a fourth-place team in the NL West, the front office may want to start thinking about what pieces they’d be willing to sell.

Five pieces who may be packing their bags before the trade deadline

Buster Posey and Zack Minasian moved decisively to sell at the trade deadline last year, parting ways with Tyler Rogers, Camilo Doval, and Mike Yastrzemski in separate deals that seem to be the right call in retrospect. Though being short on a few bullpen pieces probably ended up being the only thing keeping them from a winning record after a bit of a second-half surge, bringing in talent like Drew Gilbert, Blade Tidwell, Jesús Rodríguez, and Parks Harber added some much-needed youthful upside to the club.

Posey’s predecessors, Farhan Zaidi and Bobby Evans, always tried to tread water and never became full-on sellers at the deadline. Since Posey has already proven he’s willing to do so in the right circumstances, it’s realistic to think of who may be on the chopping block before August 3rd. Here are three of the top names we’ll probably be hearing about in the rumor mill over the next few months:

1. Robbie Ray

Ray is making $25 million in the last year of the five-year contract he originally signed with the Mariners back in 2022. Surely the Giants will consider keeping him around in the event they’re still in the postseason race, but it’s very likely he won’t be a Giant next year regardless of how they perform. He’s 34 years old and, even though he’s still been effective early this year, he’s pretty much fallen to the #3 spot in the rotation and shouldn’t be counted on to put up a sub-3.00 ERA forever.

Logan Webb, rough start to 2026 notwithstanding, and the upstart Landen Roupp are solidified in the top two spots of the rotation now and are both under contract for multiple years after this one. Ray’s history as an ace and former Cy Young winner could have a lot of teams circling at the deadline, especially if he keeps his strong start going. A 34-year-old rental who’s making good money isn’t going to bring back a king’s ransom in a deal, but with multiple teams probably ready to bid against each other, the return could theoretically be not too far off from what Tyler Rogers fetched last year.

2. Luis Arraez

Arraez has looked very impressive early in his Giants tenure, and has had consistently outstanding contact skills in every spot he’s been. He’s also been on four different teams in five years, and only signed a one-year deal with the Giants last offseason – so that could very well become five teams in six years. A lot of Giants fans are excited to finally have a legit .300 hitter in the lineup, but with Casey Schmitt also breaking out and Bryce Eldridge on his way to the bigs, future lineups may have Schmitt at second base and Eldridge sharing first base/designated hitter duties with Rafael Devers.

The good news is, Arraez has a chance to showcase to other teams that he’s a quality option to play second base and can also cover first, which should broaden the market for his services and hopefully increase the return coming back to San Francisco.

3. Ryan Walker

Posey has already proven that he has very little faith in relievers maintaining consistency, and there may not be a better case study to prove him right than Ryan Walker. He looked like he’d be a shutdown late-inning reliever for years to come after posting a phenomenal 1.91 ERA and 10 saves in 80 innings of work back in 2024, but when he had to become “the guy” following Doval being traded away, he cracked under the pressure.

His seven blown saves in 24 chances and pedestrian 4.11 ERA in 2025 were only worth 0.1 WAR, a far cry from the 2.8 WAR he put up as a setup guy the year prior. With Randy Rodriguez out for the entire year, Walker’s been forced to be the de facto closer once again due to the lack of viable alternatives. If he can run with the chance he’s given, though, he could be a name to watch for one of the multitude of bullpen-needy competitive teams there are sure to be in the second half.

Teams are often extremely averse to trading away their bullpen depth, which is why even a rental like Rogers could net a nice little package last season. Walker himself is not a rental, as he’s still under team control for three more seasons after this one, which could make him quite valuable.

As for why the Giants might be willing to part with him? Offseason acquisitions Jason Foley and Sam Hentges will be ready to support the back end of the bullpen in the next few months, while Rodriguez and José Buttó should rejoin the club by Opening Day next year. Posey’s strategy to acquire a lot of cheap bullpen depth might be paying off, and even if Walker is traded, those returning arms plus a reclamation project or two should be plenty enough to keep the Giants’ bullpen depth at a similar level.

4. Patrick Bailey

Bailey has gotten himself another chance after Daniel Susac went on the 10-day IL due to an elbow injury. A two-time Gold Glove winner and the best defensive catcher in baseball, it would have been a hard sell just six months ago to say Bailey shouldn’t be in the Giants’ long-term plans. With the explosive emergence of Susac and the bat-first utility option Jesús Rodríguez waiting in the wings, though, there’s ample evidence to suggest Bailey’s value might best be maximized by the Giants in a trade.

Despite his heroic three-run homer against the Dodgers, Bailey’s overall offensive contributions have it a new low this season, and the bar was already on the ground for him. His .147/.216/.191 line has been worth an unthinkable 19 wRC+, dragging down his value to -0.2 WAR despite his superlative skills behind the dish. Catching is such a thin position around the league, though, there’s a high probability that teams would be enticed by him for the defensive upgrade alone – and perhaps the hope that his bat might come around to something halfway acceptable after a move out of Oracle Park.

5. Heliot Ramos

The days of Ramos’ peak value are long in the rearview mirror, though, he at least broke the Giants’ franchise curse by starting in left field on consecutive Opening Days. His even 100 wRC+ and below-average defense isn’t going to bring back a monster prospect package, though he is a former All-Star with three years of control beyond this one. Even though Ramos is frankly unlikely to make another All-Star team, it would still be a loss for the Giants considering how awful their outfield has been as a unit in April.

Lee’s re-emergence and Gilbert having a solid week are excellent signs that the outfield as a whole could finally be coming around, and if Ramos were to be traded away, those two would continue to be everyday players flanking Harrison Bader in center, who has had a miserable start to his Giants tenure but is still under contract through next year. If the Giants are still competitive in three months, keeping Ramos in the starting lineup and having Bader as a part-time defensive specialist would assuredly be the best move, but an outfield of Gilbert/Bader/Lee would at least be solid defensively if the Giants decide to blow things up at the deadline.

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