San Francisco Giants trade primer: Find the right deals on a tighter budget

You might be the sort of baseball fan who doesn’t drink from a firehose of Hot Stove rumors on social media. You might not get push notifications on your phone when there’s a notable signing or trade. You aren’t refreshing MLB Trade Rumors 30 times an hour to see if there’s anything you missed. You might not even know that website exists.

This sounds amazing. If you can grow a beard, wear a hat and mumble stuff about records, maybe you could fill in for me, and I can take your life for a couple of days or months. Let’s talk.

Until then, you probably need to catch up. There’s been a lot to ingest, so let’s just bullet point the sucker:

• The San Francisco Giants hired Ron Washington to be an infield coach. If you’re wondering why that merits a mention, boy, do I have The Athletic article for you. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but improved infield play has to sound great to Logan Webb. I’d wonder if the veterans are going to get out of the famous Washington infield drills, but Matt Chapman is probably excited about them, like Bill Murray in “Little Shop of Horrors.”

• They’ve checked in on Kyle Schwarber, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network. “Hey, Kyle. What’s good?” technically falls under this description, as does, “If your client will take a ludicrously backloaded contract with deferred payments … don’t forget about us.”

• The Giants let the world know that they’re unlikely to spend a lot this offseason. That doesn’t mean they’re sitting the winter out, but they’ll have to be creative with their additions and subtractions to improve the 2026 roster.

• Casey Schmitt underwent wrist surgery recently, but he should be ready for spring training. That news wouldn’t be that noteworthy on its own, but it came a day after Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo wrote that the Giants are looking for an upgrade at second base. The timing of both bits of news was cruel, but fair.

The last three points seem unrelated, but they’re not. They’re all whispering the same subtext under the main text: The Giants seem likely to make trades this winter. Why would they check in with Schwarber if they already have a logjam with Bryce Eldridge and Rafael Devers? Well, if the Giants wanted to get a pitcher who is both really good and really cheap, it’s Eldridge that the other team would want. If they’re really going to foist a cold, cold winter of austerity on the faithful, trades will be the only meaningful way of improving the team.

Here’s a chart that might or might not surprise you:

The Giants are currently making more trades than at any time in franchise history, and it didn’t stop when Farhan Zaidi left. My guess is that this trend would be similar for almost every team, if not all of them, but that’s just a guess. Consider that in 1958, a general manager would have to write trade ideas on little scrolls and tie them to the ankles of carrier pigeons, but in 2025, they can spam each other with texts until they get blocked or get something done. It’s a transactional world out there.

This means it’s time for me to transition from giving you my traditional free-agent profiles (save for a final gasp of “Zac Gallen is definitely signing with the Giants, right?”) to identifying trade candidates, with the pros and cons of each. Before we get there, though, here’s a little primer telling you what to expect.

What are the Giants’ holes again? And are there actually players on the trading block at that position?

The Giants’ four biggest holes are, in no particular order: second base, the bullpen, the outfield and the rotation. There are always pitchers available in trades, just like there are always outfielders in trades. Even if there are only a handful of teams in sell-sell-sell mode, they all have five outfielders and 12 pitchers, give or take. The numbers add up.

That leaves second base, and we’re happy to report that there are definitely trade candidates. The Tampa Bay Rays may not want to pay Brandon Lowe the $11.05 million he’s set to earn this coming season, but he shouldn’t be too expensive for the Giants, even in penny-pinching mode. The St. Louis Cardinals might trade an infielder or two, and some of the worst teams out there can spare a second baseman for the right price.

What could the Giants offer another team?

There are plenty of options. The Giants don’t exactly have an ultra-robust farm system, but they have the kinds of prospects that can get a trade done.

They have at least two top-100 prospects (Eldridge and Josuar Gonzalez), and one of them plays a position that’s currently filled by a player signed through 2033. They have a former top-100 prospect who is out of options (Marco Luciano) and would likely have more value to a team like the Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies or Minnesota Twins, who can keep him on the roster all season and let him take his lumps. They have a gaggle of potential starters, and while the Giants shouldn’t count those chickens before they hatch, some other teams don’t even have eggs at all.

You might not want to hear that the Giants would consider trading Eldridge, but at the risk of repeating a hoary cliche, everyone is available for the right price. It would be malpractice for the Giants not to see what they could get for Eldridge. That would have been true before the Devers trade, but it’s especially true now. These aren’t the days of Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda, when there was legitimately only one spot to put either of them. They don’t have to do anything.

They should listen, though. It might be the only way to get an inexpensive pitcher who could appear in a potential Game 2 of a postseason series, which is a much more worthwhile goal than settling for the second-best pitcher who will take a one-year deal (the first one will sign with someone else).

Aside from that, you have the usual kinds of prospects who might make another team twitchy. Parks Harber, acquired from the Yankees in the Camilo Doval trade, dominated in the Arizona Fall League, and he morally and ethically deserves to be in Boston, if only for the greater amusement of us all. There are toolsy teenagers and interesting players in the Giants’ upper minors. Again, it’s not a cornucopia of prospect-y goodness around these parts, but if the question is “Do the Giants have players that other teams might want?”, the answer is probably “Yes.”

Who are the trade targets to keep track of?

By all means, add your pet trade candidate in the comments, but here are some of the more obvious ones:

Joe Ryan — RHP, Minnesota Twins

Ryan has a touch of the dinger-itis, which is less of a concern for the Giants. He’s been an excellent pitcher for a couple of seasons now. He’s under contract through next season, and MLB Trade Rumors has him making $5.8 million in arbitration, which is middle-reliever money. He’s also a Bay Area native who grew up a Giants fan.

He would be one of the reasons the Giants would trade Eldridge, in theory. React to that as you see fit.

MacKenzie Gore — LHP, Washington Nationals

The former San Diego Padres super-prospect had a breakout first half last year with Washington, and a completely broken second half, with 11 starts, 49 innings and a 6.75 ERA. (He, of course, completely dominated the Giants during this stretch. Never forget that the Ghost of Brandon Backe is always haunting the hallways.)

This is another available player who might make you concerned that the Giants could trade Eldridge (or Josuar Gonzalez). Sure, Gore’s still a mercurial pitcher who might need a lot of seasoning, but he’s cheap, cheap, cheap! He’s also under contract through 2027.

Freddy Peralta — RHP, Milwaukee Brewers

Peralta is entering his walk season, and the Brewers will almost certainly see what they can get for their best starter. He’d only come with one year of team control, but he is scheduled to make just $8 million next season. It’s possible the Giants could keep conversations going without including their two best prospects, even if that might be a dealbreaker for either side.

Brendan Donovan — 2B/UT, St. Louis Cardinals

The 29-year-old left-handed super-utility player has had one of the most remarkably consistent starts to any career ever: In four seasons, his OPS has been between .759 and .787, and his OPS+ has ranged from 114 to 124. He’s under contract for two more seasons, so he won’t be cheap to acquire, but he’s another obvious upgrade that might not require one of the top two prospects, even though the asking price might get there.

Brandon Lowe — 2B, Tampa Bay Rays

While I’m generally not wild about left-handed sluggers at Oracle Park unless they have Devers-like exit velocity, Lowe has enough batted-ball majesty to consider, and he’d play a position that typically doesn’t offer power. Even 75 percent of his typical power output would be more than the average second baseman.

Lowe has one more season under contract for $11.05 million, and his defense has been shaky enough to limit his overall value (he’s been worth about 2 WAR per season, according to Baseball-Reference), so he definitely won’t cost an arm and a leg. It might just take a finger or two. Still, he’s the Zac Gallen of second-base trade candidates: If it doesn’t happen, I’ll be moderately surprised.

Carlos Correa — INF, Houston Astros

Just seeing if you’re still awake.

---

Is it self-defeating for a team to trade away prospects for players because they don’t want to spend too much in free agency? Yes. Yes, it is. Based on the available evidence, however, don’t be surprised if that’s the strategy here.

My guess is that the Giants enter spring training with both Eldridge and Gonzalez still in the organization, but I’m not sure if there’s been any Giants top prospects this un-untouchable since Zack Wheeler.

Even if the Giants don’t go that far, there should still be players available in trades, and that looks like the strategy from here. I wouldn’t be crushed by a Gallen/Lowe offseason, if I were you, even if it wouldn’t exactly set the Hot Stove ablaze. There are all sorts of horrific and wondrous possibilities aside from those, though. Keep your eyes open.

That is, unless you’re one of those people who doesn’t pay attention to this stuff at all. Please, call me. We can work something out.