Giants Talk: Why fans might be surprised by team's 2026 MLB trade deadline moves
On "Giants Talk," co-hosts Cole Kuiper and Alex Pavlovic preview where San Francisco stands as the 2026 MLB trade deadline approaches.
Giants Talk: Why fans might be surprised by team's 2026 MLB trade deadline moves originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
The one that I, I think is important is Tyler Mahle, who He is, I think he's becoming a sneaky good trade candidate because the velocity is up a little bit.
And again, the crazy thing about this Tyler Mahle contract is that, and I, I will actually- Like, I think the off season was bad, but I don't think this contract was a mistake.
Because the, the concept of Tyler Mahle is that when he is healthy, he has generally been very good in the big leagues, including last year.
Mm-hmm.
He was excellent in Texas.
The problem with Tyler Mahle is he's rarely able to go a full season, and this year he has mostly been healthy.
I mean, he had the one injury that we also kind of think, like, maybe they stretched out a little bit because he was pitching so poorly.
But when he's been on, like, he, he hasn't been able to really contribute much.
I'm very curious to see when we podcast next week where it comes down on a Tyler Mahle trade versus a Robbie Ray trade, because I think Robbie's numbers look better than how he has pitched, and I think Tyler, there's more upside than how he has pitched.
So- Yeah it might be a I, I think it might be a closer return than maybe what people would expect or would have thought two weeks ago, but, but that's also up to the Giants making that happen.
But they should be able to talk somebody into, into Tyler Mahle.
Yeah.
All right.
Let's, let's just pivot fully into trade talk at this point.
Robbie Ray, we're seeing a lot around the league from national reporters saying the return for Robbie Ray won't be great.
Don't really understand it.
Do you have a local beat writer take or way to break this down for me?
I, I do have I, I think Robbie Ray is gonna be fascinating because he has, like, a one ERA the last seven starts.
ERA for the season is good, but strikeout rate for the season is not, you know, not what you come to expect from a Robbie Ray.
He's walking a ton of guys, and he has a 3.16 ERA and a four point a 4.5 FIP.
So this is gonna be a case of, I think, a lot of front o- I'm sure a lot of the calls they're having on Robbie Ray, they're saying, "Look how well he's pitched."
And the other team is going, "Well, if you look under the hood, like, we don't love it."
Any dark horses we're eyeing?
Any last minute, you know, last time our fans hear from us about the trade before stuff starts actually happening?
I do think there's gonna be some Elliott talk this weekend.
And just in terms of where- I can totally see that.
Yeah.
Where the market is, there's just not a lot of impact bats out there.
Mm-hmm.
So I think there's gonna be some Elliott Ramos talk, and we'll see if, if they're able to do something there.
And then I, I think my prediction for the deadline is I think, people are gonna be surprised how many relievers the Giants trade.
And I say that in respect to the fact that this has been a bullpen that we have talked about every podcast almost for, you know The, the biggest talking point of the season for Giants fans is this bullpen has kept them from being where they need to be.
And I think people, I have heard they've gotten calls on every reliever.
Like, there, there's a lot of interest in their Individually, there's a lot of interest in their relievers.
Okay.
You put this group together, hasn't been very good.
Certainly cannot close games.
But individually, in terms of finding guys who can help contenders' bullpens, there's a lot of interest.
So I think we're gonna see, more guys than people would expect go from this bullpen.
