Padres have quickly learned what SF Giants found out last year with Robbie Ray

The SF Giants made one of the more obvious deals going into the trade deadline by parting ways with Robbie Ray who was set to be a free agent. It was a bit of a surprise that the Giants sent him to a division rival in the San Diego Padres, but maybe it’s because they knew something the Padres didn’t about Ray.

The veteran lefty has struggled since joining San Diego. He has a 4.71 ERA in six starts and 28 and 2/3 innings of work. The biggest warning sign is that he has walked 20 batters and struck out 20 batters in that span. A 1:1 walk-to-strikeout ratio is never a good thing for a pitcher.

The Padres will need more out of Ray coming down the stretch as they currently cling to the third NL Wild Card spot. He will have a chance to turn things around on Friday night when he faces the Giants at Oracle Park.

Yet, the Giants remember what Ray looked like coming down the stretch last year when San Francisco was looking to sneak into the playoffs and it was not pretty. While Ray was an All-Star and had a 2.65 ERA in the first half of 2025, the second half was a completely different story as he had a 5.54 ERA in 12 starts. September was his worst month of the season as he had a 7.85 ERA in four starts. 

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Ray chokes when the pressure is ramped up, it probably just means that he runs out of gas as the year goes on which is understandable for a guy who is going to turn 35 years old soon.

He works so hard and grunts so much throughout the year that he may just expend his energy and doesn’t have a lot left in the tank when it comes to the last month of the season. Madison Bumgarner knew you had to save some of those grunts for October.

Giants have to feel good about what they got in exchange for Robbie Ray

Then again, his last start was his worst one yet with San Diego as he made it through just two innings and allowed five earned runs to the New York Yankees. Maybe that was just one bad start against a tough lineup and he will be the Ray we saw in the first half in his return to San Francisco on Friday.

No matter what, the Giants have to feel good about the trade. They got two intriguing prospects in Miguel Mendez and Joniel Hernandez for a guy who they knew they weren’t going to re-sign in the offseason.

That’s not a bad deal especially since they probably had an inkling that Ray would slow down if 2025 was any indication. Now the Padres may have to find out the hard way what the Giants learned last year. Poor them. 

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