The second half of the 2026 MLB season got underway in full force over the weekend, and the struggles of the San Francisco Giants have not really waned.

Sure, the Giants may have experienced a brief jolt of momentum ahead of the All-Star break by taking three out of four games in their series against the Colorado Rockies, and they even opened up the second half with a 7-0 win over the Seattle Mariners, but they ended up dropping that series after losing to Seattle on Sunday, 6-3.

Currently, the Giants have a 42-57 record, which is 26th out of the 30 MLB teams. They also hold the same ranking in other categories, such as RBIs (392) and runs (408), despite having the fifth-best batting average in the sport (.255).

San Francisco is going to need a Herculean effort to enter the playoff picture, and with the MLB Trade Deadline approaching on Aug. 3, the Giants could be one of the biggest sellers among the 30 teams. 

Recently, The Athletic released its second of three "Big Boards" ahead of the Deadline, which serve as outlines for the top 75-plus players who may get moved. On the second board, five players belong to the Giants.

The Athletic has a color-coded system it implements for each player to speculate on the likelihood of a potential move. Red, yellow and green are the three colors the outlet utilizes for its scenarios, with red indicating that a move is unlikely, while green indicates a move is likely.

The Giants’ five players on The Athletic’s Big Board are Luis Arraez, Matt Chapman, Robbie Ray, Jung Hoo Lee and Tyler Mahle. Arraez, Ray and Mahle each fell into the green category, while Chapman and Lee received red designations.

Again, this is speculation, and any one of these players could be moved or remain with the team. The bigger picture suggests that the Giants are skeptical about a turnaround with their current roster, and some of the players listed may be the first to be let go. 

Arraez is coming off his fourth All-Star selection, but he is only on a one-year, $12 million deal with San Francisco. Despite his production, it has not translated to winning baseball, and the Giants might want more controllable talent.

Ray is also set for unrestricted free agency, and he is having a solid year, but he will be going into his age-35 season. Again, the Giants would probably rather have younger, controllable talent.

The big difference with Chapman and Lee is that they are under team control through 2030 and 2029, respectively. Therefore, it is more enticing for San Francisco to keep them.

All told, it has been a bad year for a Giants team that has been less than mediocre for the better parts of the 2020s. With the 12th-highest payroll according to Spotrac, San Francisco is not deep in a financial hole like other struggling teams, such as the New York Mets or Toronto Blue Jays, but it might be time to spend money elsewhere.

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