The San Francisco Giants reached the All-Star break at 41-55, and what happens next depends on which report you believe. ESPN’s Buster Olney reports the club is open to offers on its three highest-paid position players — Rafael Devers, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman — along with more conventional trade candidates such as Luis Arraez and Robbie Ray.
Robert Murray of FanSided reports the opposite: that the Giants have not internally discussed trading Devers, Adames or Chapman, and intend to keep building around them. Both things can be true in July — a front office can decline to shop players it would still listen on — but the gap between the two framings is the whole question of the Giants’ deadline.
Devers is the name that moves the market. He enters the break hitting .249 with 19 home runs and 52 RBIs, and his bat has warmed considerably — he has homered four times in July, all against Colorado, including a two-homer game on July 5 and a 3-for-3, three-RBI night on July 10. The obstacle is the contract: his deal runs through 2033 with roughly $250 million remaining, which means any trade requires San Francisco to eat significant money or accept a modest return. Sellers do not usually get to choose both.
The club itself has not quit — it won its final two games before the break, including seven one-run innings from Trevor McDonald on Sunday — but at 10.5 games out of the last wild-card spot, the schedule is no longer the Giants’ friend. Three weeks remain to reconcile the two reports.
For fantasy managers, none of this is a reason to sell. Devers would likely gain value in any move out of Oracle Park’s marine layer, Adames and Chapman keep everyday roles wherever they play, and Arraez’s batting-average floor travels. If anything, Devers is a buy-low candidate in leagues where his owner reads headlines faster than box scores.
