The Giants have made Robbie Ray easier to trade. They have signaled to other teams that they are willing to pay down part of his salary to help complete a deal before Monday's deadline.
That matters because Ray is not just any arm on the market. He is set to make $25 million this season, with about $8 million left on the contract through the end of the year, a figure that drops to roughly $7.4 million after Monday. For a club trying to move him quickly, even a partial offset could be the difference between interest and hesitation.
Ray is scheduled to start tonight’s series opener in San Diego, which is expected to be his last appearance with the Giants unless the deadline moves faster than expected. He has given San Diego a strong final look, carrying a 3.16 ERA across 116 2/3 innings in 21 appearances and finishing with a 1.67 ERA over his last nine outings. That surface production is why he still draws attention as a possible rental, but the numbers underneath make the market less straightforward. He has struck out 20.4% of opponents and walked 11.4%, a rate that clouds the value of a pitcher whose ERA looks far better than the rest of the profile.
That is the tradeoff the Giants are trying to solve. They are expected to move Robbie Ray, Luis Arraez and Tyler Mahle within the next four days, and the salary piece is what gives Ray a chance to move cleanly. If the Giants are willing to eat enough of the remaining money, they can widen the pool of teams willing to take him and improve the return they get back. The exact amount they will cover is still unclear, which leaves the real market question open even as the deadline closes in. Ray’s next turn in San Diego may be his last in a Giants uniform, but it also may be the final signal before the club decides how much of his deal it is prepared to absorb to get something done.
