The All-Star Game is barely in the rearview and the trade deadline chatter is already drowning out the highlights. Jon Heyman dropped a report Tuesday ranking which All-Stars are actually realistic trade candidates this summer, and one name sits alone at the top: Luis Arraez.
Among the All-Stars, Luis Arraez is the most likely to be traded. Wacha and Chapman have a reasonable chance to be traded. Buxton, Ryan, Webb and Goodman all should probably be considered long shots to go for now
It's not exactly a shock. Arraez is on a 1-year, $12 million deal with the Giants, a team that traded for him last offseason and has since watched him quietly become one of the better defensive second basemen in the sport, reportedly running a plus-9 Outs Above Average that ranks in the 99th percentile leaguewide. If San Francisco slides into seller mode, Arraez is the easiest trade chip on the roster to move: a rental, a proven bat, and a name that instantly makes a contender's infield better.
That's exactly why Heyman lumps 2 more Giants-adjacent names into the "reasonable chance" tier alongside Arraez: Michael Wacha and Matt Chapman. Wacha, now anchoring a rotation with a track record of quality starts, has reportedly become a real trade chip himself this summer as clubs look for rotation depth. Chapman's situation is a little different — reports out of San Francisco suggest the front office would welcome a chance to get off his long-term deal, which makes him a name to watch if the Giants lean into a reset.
The other tier in Heyman's report is just as telling. Byron Buxton, Joe Ryan, Logan Webb and Hunter Goodman are all filed under "long shots to go for now" — guys whose teams either aren't selling or aren't ready to move a piece that important yet. That contrast is the whole story of the next few weeks: some contenders are going to be desperate for a bat like Arraez's, and there just aren't many rental infielders on the market hitting the way he has.
For a guy who's already been traded twice in his career — once from the Twins to the Marlins, then from Miami to San Diego — a third move wouldn't be new territory for Arraez. What's new is the leverage. A batting champion pedigree, a defensive glow-up, and a expiring contract is about as clean a sell as it gets, and Heyman's report reads like the league already knows it.
Nothing is finalized, and Heyman's own framing — "reasonable chance," not "will happen" — leaves plenty of room for all of this to shake out differently by the deadline. But when the top MLB insiders start ranking who's actually going to move, that's usually the first domino before the rumors turn into names and cities. Keep an eye on the Giants' record over the next couple weeks; it'll tell you a lot about whether Arraez, Wacha and Chapman are actually available or just conveniently discussed.