Giants add Ray in trade with M's
Former Cy Young winner joins SF, who sends out Haniger, DeSclafani
The Giants didn't land either of the two biggest free agents available this offseason but have taken the first step to course-correcting with a trade.
The Giants on Friday sent outfielder Mitch Haniger and starter Anthony DeSclafani to the Seattle Mariners for left-handed starter Robbie Ray, the 2021 American League Cy Young Award winner.
The trade provides the Giants with an extra roster spot and sheds two big salary figures while also giving them the chance at a high-upside arm this season.
Still, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said his main motivation for the deal was to pair Ray with Logan Webb atop the starting rotation.
“Robbie's obviously a big piece for us,” Zaidi said. “Fills what we see as the ideal of a No. 2 starter who has a different style than Logan Webb, complements him really well. He's a power lefty who misses a lot of bats, and who, before this injury, actually had a really good track record of durability.”
Ray, 32, is coming off Tommy John surgery and won't pitch until after July's All-Star break. He's owed $73 million over the last three years of his contract, though he'll have the chance to opt out after this upcoming season.
The Giants were unsuccessful earlier this offseason in their pursuit of both Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who each signed massive contracts with the Los Angeles Dodgers last month.
In Ray, the Giants have a pitcher who in 2022 posted a 3.71 ERA across 189 innings. The twotime All-Star was also sensational in his Cy Young season, leading MLB in strikeouts and pacing the AL in ERA, innings, and WHIP.
Haniger was the Giants' biggest free agent acquisition last year when the Giants inked him to a threeyear, $43.5 million deal. Haniger's long-documented injury issues cropped up last season, though; an oblique strain and forearm fracture limited the veteran to 61 games.
Haniger spent the first six seasons of his career in Seattle, making the transaction a homecoming for him.
DeSclafani, meanwhile, is entering the last year of
a three-year, $36 million contract with San Francisco. An ankle injury late in the 2021 season knocked him out for nearly the entire 2022 campaign and a flexor strain cut his 2023 short.
DeSclafani and Haniger are making a combined $29 million in 2024, while Ray will earn $23 million. San Francisco is also sending $6 million in cash considerations to Seattle, evening the salaries. Both clubs will have the same payroll figure as they did before the transaction.
The trade clears up the Giants' crowded outfield a bit. Since Michael Conforto opted back in, the Giants
have Conforto, Mike Yastrzemski, Austin Slater, center fielder Jung Hoo Lee, Luis Matos, Heliot Ramos, Wade Meckler, and Tyler Fitzgerald firmly in the mix.
The Giants' lineup still has room for improvement when it comes to power, though.
Haniger was signed to supply home runs, and Lee is known to be more of a gap-to-gap hitter. Zaidi mentioned Ramos and Matos as young players with the chance to hit for power, though San Francisco hasn't given Ramos much runway and Matos hit just two homers in 76 games as a rookie.