The Tony Vitello experience for the 2026 San Francisco Giants can hardly be going any worse. They’re dangerously close to being leapfrogged in the standings by the lowly Colorado Rockies, they barely walk as an entire team unit, and almost none of their big value players have achieved anything remotely close to their career averages. Buster Posey, by all accounts, appears ready to move some big pieces before the deadline. Who might be the first to go?

Moving out?

Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, and Rafael Devers all seem poised to be salary dumped to the highest bidder in a few short weeks. Devers is turning thirty in October, still owed $31.4 million a year until 2033, and largely considered one of the most underwater contracts in all of baseball. It’s hard to imagine someone acquiring Devers and his entire contract, unless they assume a return to his previous productive form. 

Adames is in a similar boat but is producing a 1.0 WAR so far, compared to Devers 0.6 to this point in the season. Adames is showing a bit of a downturn with the bat (along with Devers), but has thirteen home runs on the season, so someone looking for right-handed pop would not be too dismayed with what they get out of him. If they can swallow the .226 batting average and $26 million AAV price tag until 2031, that is. 

Chapman is my favorite player likely to be sold by the Giants. Although he’s already thirty-three years old, he is providing his exact expected offensive output to this point in the season while still giving his usual platinum glove defense. His 2.8 WAR is largely boosted by his 1.6 dWAR, which rates him as the fourth best defensive value in the entire Majors. He likely could demand a huge return if he is dealt.

Light hitting Luis Arraez, playing excellent defensive second base while hitting .321 has watched his stock rise ahead of hitting free agency this offseason. Twenty-nine-year-old Logan Webb and thirty-four-year-old Robbie Ray have both pitched to their career averages, around a low four ERA, and still carry a ton of value as well. Of these three, Webb would likely be the most expensive acquisition while Ray and Arraez duke it out for a distant second. 

Moving Up?

Who could we see come up after this inevitable sell-off? 

The two most likely candidates to be called up are the ones that have already been called up (channeling my inner Yogi Berra there). Twenty-five-year-old starting pitcher Blade Tidwell and twenty-four-year-old catcher and outfielder Jesus Rodriguez would surely get first cracks at making it to the big league roster to stay. 

Blade Tidwell has had twenty-seven innings pitched at the big league level, to mediocre results. However, given real run, he could show an ability to stick around as a middle to back-end of the rotation starter. The biggest red flag about Tidwell is that in the higher minor leagues he has shown a bit of a control problem, with his walk rates increasing. Consider him an add in deeper leagues, unless something changes and he starts to tap into an otherwise unseen new level.

Jesus Rodriguez has one thing working for him that makes him already an add candidate, and that’s his position. As long as he is eligible to be played at catcher, he has a possibility of being one of the better hitting ones in the league. The bar, to be fair, is on the floor for offensive production at the catcher position, but at every stop in the system so far he has been able to produce right around a league average bat. Which is basically Barry Bonds level production for a catcher these days. 

The next two players we could see coming up are a bit of a stretch, but their skillsets are intriguing. 

I have the spidey sense tingles about Yunior Marte. Not to be confused with the pitcher in the majors already, the Marte at Double-A Richmond playing for the Flying Squirrels has an intriguing profile. Only twenty-two years old and six foot six inches and 236 pounds, he weighs in as an absolute beast on the mound. Boasting a fastball that sits 94-97 miles per hour that can touch 100 doesn’t hurt either. If, and this is a big if, he can rein in the walks and locate that heater he could be a big league pitcher with 1-2 upside. 

Kind of fitting into the Miguel Andújar mold of absolutely hating to walk, twenty-three-year-old Bo Davidson seems to be able to mash a bit. Currently playing for Richmond, he is slashing a strange .266/.319/.500 slash. Prospect evaluators love to see a 3/4/5 slash line, but this is an elusive 2/3/5, basically meaning that he is allergic to walks. Having a .500 slugging percentage and impacting the ball like he can makes him an exciting prospect, but only having an .819 OPS definitely is some cause for pause on his upside. He’s a definite watch list guy, but if he can put together a more mature approach could be on his way to San Fran. 

It will be absolutely riveting to watch the Giants approach come mid to late July. If nothing has improved with the on-field outcomes, it’s hard to see Vitello keeping his job as the manager, and many of his currently active players still being employed in the Bay Area.