3 players the SF Giants can trade and still remain competitive

The 2023 SF Giants are right on the cusp of contention, but chasing down the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers remains a tall task.

If leapfrogging one or both of these teams in the standings proves to be too much, the Giants could instead pivot their attention to one of the NL Wild Card spots, which seems like the likeliest outcome. There's nothing wrong with that, either, it's just a matter of playing in an extremely tough division.

When looking at the roster, there seem to be a few players that could be traded away at this year's deadline that wouldn't necessarily sink the Giants. Could some of these trade chips be used to address other parts of the roster while being adequately replaced internally? Heck yes, they could.

Let's take a look at 3 players the SF Giants can trade and still remain competitive.

1. Infielder Wilmer Flores

After four years together, the Wilmer Flores-Giants relationship could very well be coming to an end. The 31-year-old remains a lefty-masher (four home runs and a 102 OPS+ in 66 at-bats) but still can't hit righties all that well and is a bit of a liability on defense.

This is not to say that there won't be any interest in him at the deadline, though. For some fairly obvious reasons, teams are always in search of another utilityman to round out their bench and for the most part, he is a solid option.

Capable of playing decent-but-not-great defense at first, second and third base, Flores and his two years of additional team control could line up nicely on a club looking to acquire a power hitter who lights up left-handed pitchers.

What makes moving him even more attractive for the Giants is the fact that there are multiple internal options who could replace him if he's moved, including Brett Wisely, Isan Díaz, David Villar or even Casey Schmitt, who may be without a spot once Thairo Estrada returns from the injured list.

With the presence of Schmitt, who is establishing himself as an everyday big leaguer, the Giants should be perfectly content with shipping Flores off in favor of the exciting young blood.