The San Francisco Giants are out of playoff contention with the MLB trade deadline approaching, so they are expected to be open for business between now and Aug. 3.
While second baseman Luis Arraez has been the most prominent name involved in trade discussions, he is not the player they are guaranteed to trade.
Instead, the Giants are telling teams that outfielder Heliot Ramos is the guy who will be moved before the deadline, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
San Francisco has also said that fellow outfielder Jung Hoo Lee is off limits.
Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the Giants won’t be dealing Arraez, who is slated to hit free agency after the season. But clearly, they are more motivated to jettison Ramos.
Ramos is slashing .262/.296/.441 with nine home runs and 31 RBI over 270 plate appearances this season. It’s been a disappointing year for the former first-round pick, who smashed 21 homers to go along with 62 RBI last season.
The 26-year-old broke into the big leagues in 2022 and only received scarce playing time over his first two seasons, appearing in a grand total of 34 games.
However, in 2024, Ramos broke out, slashing .269/.322/.469 with 22 dingers and 72 RBI over 518 plate appearances. That resulted in an All-Star appearance.
The problem for Ramos, however, lies within his defense.
Ramos has been one of the worst outfielders in baseball since joining the big leagues, and while he has not been quite as bad this year, owning a 0 DRS and minus-2 OAA, he has historically been terrible defensively.
This obviously limits Ramos’ value, especially considering he has been a bit disappointing with the bat, owning a lifetime .256/.315/.423 slash line.
The Puerto Rican native is under club control through 2029, though, so perhaps a rival team feels it could squeeze some more production out of the former top draft choice.
