San Francisco Giants Unlikely to Trade Cy Young Winner Before Playoff Run

With the San Francisco Giants on a nice run after a tough stretch, they continue proving they can be a contender in the National League.

While the Giants are far from perfect, they have been able to win games consistently in 2025.

San Francisco has been a team built on pitching a defense this year, with some help at times from some timely hitting.

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This combination has resulted in a lot of wins early on, with the Giants leaning on one of the best bullpens in baseball this year.

Coming into the campaign, the starting rotation figured to be the top unit for the team. On paper, this unit had a ton of talent, and while there have been some standout performances from Logan Webb and Robbie Ray so far, one pitcher hasn’t quite performed like the franchise would have hoped.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about Justin Verlander and his former teammate Max Scherzer as two veterans that would be unlikely to be traded this summer.

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"But these 40-somethings need to get healthy and their teams need to fall apart before either one would be available. Looking likely at this point they'll both stay put," he wrote.

Even though it was his first winter in charge, president of baseball operations Buster Posey didn’t make too many notable moves. In free agency, he signed Verlander to a one-year deal to help replace the production lost when Blake Snell signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

This contract came at a risk for San Francisco, with the veteran coming off a poor year in 2024. Injuries certainly played a part in his struggles, but there might have been some age-related issues creeping in as well.

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In 2024, Verlander totaled a 5.48 ERA in 17 starts and was left off the postseason roster for the Astros in the last campaign.

So far this season, he has totaled a 0-3 record with a 4.42 ERA in 10 starts.

While the numbers aren’t horrible, they also aren’t very good for a pitcher making $15 million this year. Furthermore, at 42 years old, making it through an entire year healthy always seemed like a stretch, and Verlander is currently on the injured list.

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For the Giants, if the trade deadline were today, they would figure to be buyers. Verlander might have been a pitcher that they would have contemplated flipping for a prospect if they were a seller, but that doesn’t appear like it will be the case this summer.

Hopefully, the veteran right-hander can get healthy and be a contributor soon for the team. If not, the Giants will have to explore potentially adding another starter on the trade market.

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