The San Francisco Giants are open to offers for their three highest-paid players — Rafael Devers, Willy Adames, and Matt Chapman — according to Buster Olney. Chapman, the former Oakland A's third baseman before he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays, seemed like a great fit for the A's just a couple of months ago.

That ship has sailed.

Chapman is as streaky as ever, but he's currently on an upswing, batting .260 with .346 OBP and a 115 wRC+ (100 is league average). He's still providing top-10 defense at the hot corner on top of that. 

Heading into spring training, the A's didn't know who they were going to play at third base, and even attempted to lure Nolan Arenado, a mid-30s third baseman who is owed $42 million over his final two seasons.

Chapman, in his age-33 season, has four more years of team control after 2026, and is owed just under $101 million through the 2030 season. While that lines up with a number of other contracts the team has handed out in terms of an end date, his would also be the largest annual contract on the books and he'd be signed through his age-37 campaign. 

As we discussed recently, the ball is likely to fly a good deal in Las Vegas. Probably not as much as we saw last week in the outdoor Las Vegas Ballpark, but the new park will still have the second-highest elevation in baseball. The dome, temperature-controlled environment, and humidor will all help mitigate the ball's natural flight, but how much is the question.

We'll likely see the ball jumping off of bats at an above-average rate in Vegas, and if that's the case, then the A's certainly don't need to pay a premium for bats. $25 million per season from ages 34 to 37 just isn't a great deal. 

Plus, the Giants would be expecting some sort of prospect return, which just doesn't help the math. Chapman has been a solid player, even in recent years, but the A's have built a brand of trading players too soon rather than too late.

While they're finally spending a little bit of money, it's unlikely they're adding money like that to the books unless it's for a pitcher. 

Part of the reason that the A's don't need Chapman anymore has been the recent resurgence of Zack Gelof, who is riding a 20-game hit streak and is currently batting .286 with a .335 OBP and a 128 wRC+. Going into Tuesday night's games, both players had a 117 wRC+. Gelof went 3-for-3 with a home run, four RBI, and a walk. 

While Gelof will be more expensive by the time the A's get to Vegas, he'll be entering his arbitration years in 2027, and it's not likely he'd reach Chapman's $25 million salary in that process.

The big question with Gelof is whether the A's believe that he's fully back, or whether this is a hot streak they're riding. It's indisputable that he's put in the work to get back to being a 20-20 caliber player. The question is whether this is the new norm, giving the A's a long-term answer at third base — or any number of other positions.

If the A's traded for Chapman, he would be plugged into third base each and every game. In addition to the extensions the A's have handed out to Tyler Soderstrom, Lawrence Butler, Jacob Wilson, and Brent Rooker, that would make five offensive positions that are routinely accounted for when everyone is healthy.

Add in Nick Kurtz at first base and Shea Langeliers behind the plate, and that's seven of nine. Henry Bolte has also broken out as the likely center fielder of the future for the club. 

That would leave just second base open after this season, though the easy answer is that the position will belong to either Wilson or Leo De Vries when the A's top prospect arrives. 

Obviously the A's would need depth behind all of those positions to account for injuries to get through an entire season, but adding Chapman would likely make a number of other players prime trade candidates, including Gelof. 

The reason to still consider adding Chapman isn't his bat — it's the trade options he opens up for the A's. 

Darell Hernaiz, Gelof, Max Muncy, Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, and Tommy White would either be bench pieces for the foreseeable future or trade pieces in the immediate term. 

If those were the players the A's were dealing from, they could likely add some solid pitching options to the roster, which could help their pursuit of a championship. 

Spending eight figures a year on a bat that duplicates what Gelof and the rest of this lineup are already doing for much less doesn't move the needle — adding a rotation piece would. Chapman made sense as a stopgap when third base was an open question in March. It isn't anymore. 

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