The Giants are all but guaranteed to move the impending free agent trio of Luis Arraez, Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle within the next four days. They’d surely flip reliever JT Brubaker if they can drum up interest. Arraez and Ray are their most notable rental trade chips, though finding a taker for the latter is complicated by his outsized $25MM salary.
There’s around $8MM remaining on that contract through season’s end. That’ll drop slightly to approximately $7.4MM after Monday’s deadline. That’s a fairly hefty sum for two months of a mid-rotation arm. Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that the Giants have signaled to other teams they’re willing to pay down some of the salary to facilitate a trade.
That would help the Giants fetch a slightly better prospect return than if their sole focus was on offloading the money. Ray has a strong 3.16 ERA across 116 2/3 innings over 21 appearances. His underlying marks aren’t as impressive, as he’s striking out a slightly below-average 20.4% of opponents against an elevated 11.4% walk rate. The free passes are nothing new. Ray has typically offset the walks with plus swing-and-miss stuff, but this year’s strikeout and whiff rates are his lowest in a decade.
It hasn’t prevented Ray from being effective. He has continued to get good results of late, turning in a 1.67 ERA over his last nine appearances. The elevated pitch counts keep him from consistently working deep into games, though, and he hasn’t done well when seeing an opposing lineup for a third time.
Even if Ray’s Cy Young days are behind him, he’d fit into the third or fourth rotation spot for a lot of contenders. A team trading for him would probably view him as a playoff starter, though they’d need to prepare for a potential quick hook in October. There’s no reason for the Giants to hold him, as he’s ineligible for a qualifying offer. Ray is scheduled to start tonight’s series opener in San Diego in what’d almost certainly be his final appearance with the team.
In other Giants deadline news, Passan writes that they’re expected to hold right fielder Jung Hoo Lee but could dangle Heliot Ramos. The latter should get interest given the heavy demand around the league for right-handed outfield bats. Lee is signed for three years and $63MM after this season, though he can opt out after next year. It would’ve made sense for the Giants to gauge interest, but the contract might’ve prevented them from commanding a substantial return for one of their more reliable offensive players. Lee’s bat has cooled in July but he’s still hitting .302/.335/.434 with six homers over 394 plate appearances on the season.
