Giants’ stalled fire sale proves Padres face the same expensive trade deadline trap

Putting an expensive veteran on the trade block doesn’t magically make him a trade asset. Sometimes it only confirms that the rest of baseball wants no part of the contract. The San Francisco Giants are learning that lesson in public.

They have made Rafael Devers, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman available ahead of the trade deadline. The response from potential buyers has reportedly been close to nonexistent. One rival executive told MLB.com that moving Devers or Adames had “no chance” without the Giants attaching serious value. Chapman represented the most realistic possibility, and even that would likely require the Giants to cover part of his salary.

This mess should sound familiar to the Padres, because they are living in it. 

A Padres fire sale would leave their most expensive contracts untouched

After the 2026 season, the Giants will owe approximately $211 million to Devers, $140 million to Adames and another $100 million to Chapman. That’s roughly $451 million tied to three infielders who are not generating much interest. Adames and Chapman also control the process through full no-trade clauses.

San Diego’s total commitment is significantly larger. The Padres owe $810 million after 2026 to Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill. Add Jake Cronenworth’s $48 million, and the figure reaches $858 million. Tatis and Merrill remain young enough to carry legitimate value. The direct Giants comparison is the $420 million concentrated in Machado and Bogaerts, two aging infielders with full no-trade protection and contracts that would be extremely difficult to move.

That’s what we call wet cement. No flexibility there. Machado has recovered enough from his dreadful start to produce a .734 OPS with 23 home runs, but seven more years and $245 million would scare away almost any front office. Bogaerts is the much bigger problem. He has a .631 OPS in 2026, diminishing defensive value and seven seasons remaining on a contract that already looked dangerous the moment San Diego handed it to him.

The rest of the league does not need the Padres to explain the situation. Everyone can read the numbers.

Xander Bogaerts is already proving how little leverage Padres have

The clearest evidence arrived when the Padres reportedly explored the idea of attaching Bogaerts to Mason Miller.

Miller is exactly the type of player every contender wants. He should command one of the largest returns available at the deadline. Yet even Miller might not be enough to make another organization swallow the Bogaerts contract.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel reported that the Padres would love to include Bogaerts in a Miller deal, but that “frankly, nobody’s going to take it.” MLB.com later highlighted the same possibility while noting that Bogaerts would need to approve any destination.

There is the Padres’ situation in one brutal sentence. They could attach arguably the best reliever in baseball to Bogaerts and still struggle to find someone willing to accept the bill.

A.J. Preller can trade the productive and affordable pieces surrounding his expensive core. He cannot realistically trade the contracts creating the long-term payroll problem.

Calling that a teardown would be generous. A real teardown clears money, creates opportunities and exchanges present value for future talent. San Diego’s version would leave Machado and Bogaerts in place while removing some of the players making the current roster functional.

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