Giants slugger Rafael Devers might make a nice fit in the middle of the Yankees lineup with his potent bat. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
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NEW YORK – The Yankees and Giants are on opposite ends of the winning spectrum as the Aug. 3 trade deadline approaches, but they could be on a collision course.
The Yanks, as always, are trying to figure out a way of winning the World Series, while the Giants would simply love to shed payroll at the backend of another lost season.
“You never know what’s going to happen in the next two weeks,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Monday at Yankee Stadium. “It takes two to tango, sometimes more.”
So, let’s tango.
The Giants have $427.2 million sunk into long-term contracts with three veteran players – Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman and Willy Adames – all signed into the early 2030s. The Yankees may be without Aaron Judge, their injured best player, for the remainder of the season.
The Yankees as currently constructed are probably a playoff team headed again toward an early postseason exit. The Giants are looking toward the future.
For the Yankees to have any real shot at winning the whole thing since 2009, they must significantly improve.
“Getting better would be a good thing,” said Cody Bellinger, one of their best players, the other night. “That’s always a good thing.”
It might take a blockbuster deal and here’s an out-of-the box, big-bang proposal: Both teams trade their entire infields, or parts thereof.
Here’s the Deal: Swapping Infields Could Help Both Teams
The Giants send second baseman Luis Arraez, shortstop Adames and either third baseman Chapman or Devers to the Yanks for second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., shortstop Anthony Volpe and third baseman Ryan McMahon. The Yanks add a couple of prospects and inherit some contractual money to make it palatable for the Giants.
The Yankees get a new infield with some potentially more productive bats. Chisholm, who has come alive in the last few days with homers in three successive at-bats to win games against the Dodgers and Pirates, is still hitting .225 with a .715 OPS. McMahon is batting .214 and Volpe’s at .247.
Those Yankee players would be placeholders for the Giants as they prepare to reallocate resources for 2027 and beyond.
At .320, Arraez is MLB’s third-best hitter for average, plus he’s a potential Gold Glover at second base and a left-handed hitter who puts the ball in play. Devers has 20 homers and 53 RBIs and a .780 OPS and can return to his natural position at third base. Adames has 18 homers, 44 RBIs and a .712 OPS; he’d give the Yanks a veteran at short they haven’t had since Derek Jeter retired. Ten-year veteran Chapman, on the injured list right now with an abdominal strain, might be the least palatable of the possible acquisitions. He has just seven homers, 37 RBIs and a .692 OPS.
Let’s simplify this: Chisholm and Arraez are free agents after the season. Both are available. They cancel themselves out. When asked the other day about his 2026, Chisholm said he had “sucked all season.”
“The numbers speak for themselves,” he added.
He also pays little attention, if any, to the upcoming trade deadline or his pending free agency.
Adames and Chapman have full no-trade clauses in their contracts, which usually can be worked out, although Chapman’s agent, Scott Boras, recently told John Shea of the San Francisco Standard that Chapman isn’t going anywhere.
“I would say that it’s not something on the radar,” Boras said during the All-Star break.
Devers Would Be A Big Improvement For The Yanks At Third Base
Devers can be traded as evidenced by the 2025 deal that sent him from the Red Sox to the Giants along with what’s now left of his contract worth $204.4 million through 2033. Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees principal owner, would have to eat a good portion of that deal.
It would come down to Arraez and Devers for any combination of Chisholm, Volpe and McMahon, plus minor leaguers. The Giants get some salary relief, and the Yankees receive the following top-of-the-lineup once Judge returns from his fractured right upper rib:
Arraez, Ben Rice, Judge, Devers and Bellinger.
Couple that with their league-leading pitching – a 3.44 ERA – and now the Yanks really would have something, if their frontline pitching can stay healthy. They can compete with the Rays for the American League pennant and even match up with the two-time defending World Series-winning Dodgers.
Postseason rotation: Gerrit Cole, Max Fried Carlos Rodon and Cam Schlittler against perhaps Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow for the Dodgers.
Fried returned from months out because of a sore left elbow with a stellar five innings of one hit, no run, seven strikeout work in the second game of a split day-night doubleheader on Wednesday night. The Yanks split the doubleheader.
This mega deal would really make things interesting considering the fact that Devers has hit 18 homers and driven in 40 runs in 64 games at Yankee Stadium. Overall, he’s tormented the Yankees with 31 homers, 78 RBIs and an .878 OPS, most of that with the Red Sox.
“We will certainly look to improve,” Boone said. “But whatever happens my job, our job as coaches, our players’ job is to make this happen as a team. We need to go out and perform and play well. We have that capability and expectation and whatever improvements, additions or subtractions come our way we’ll assess that when the time comes.”
Of one thing is certain, they always come out buying, and have done so since 2015. The tango is on.