{"id":423655,"date":"2026-08-04T16:06:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T16:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/423655\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T16:06:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T16:06:38","slug":"sf-giants-trade-robbie-ray-to-san-diego-padres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/423655\/","title":{"rendered":"SF Giants trade Robbie Ray to San Diego Padres"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN DIEGO \u2014 The Giants<\/a> understood the risks when they traded for Robbie Ray<\/a> a year and a half ago.<\/p>\n

Led by former president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, the Giants<\/a> acquired Ray from the Seattle Mariners. Ray was entering year three of a five-year, $115 million deal and still recovering from elbow surgeries to repair his flexor tendon and reconstruct his UCL. There was no guarantee the left-hander would return to form, but Ray has held up his end of the bargain. On Monday afternoon, his time in San Francisco came to an end.<\/p>\n

The Giants and Padres agreed hours before the trade deadline on a deal that will send Ray and cash considerations to San Diego in exchange for right-handed pitcher Miguel Mendez and shortstop Joniel Hernandez. San Francisco and San Diego will split the remainder of the 34-year-old former Cy Young winner\u2019s salary, as well as Ray\u2019s $1 million bonus for being traded, per reports.<\/p>\n

Mendez, 23, is the Padres\u2019 No. 10 prospect, according to Baseball America. He has spent almost all of this season at Double-A, posting a 4.93 ERA over 11 starts with 38 strikeouts over 34 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-3 right-hander features a fastball that sits in the mid-to-high 90s, as well as a plus slider and changeup. Mendez has posted great strikeout rates at every level he\u2019s pitched, amassing 368 strikeouts over 328 2\/3 career innings in the minors. He\u2019s dealt with command issues (12.8 percent walk rate) and missed several weeks this season with a shoulder ailment but his stuff gives him intriguing upside.<\/p>\n

Mendez is the latest addition to a farm system that has beefed up its pitching depth in the last several weeks. Earlier today, the Giants acquired right-handers Ramon Marquez, the Phillies\u2019 No. 4 prospect, and Marty Gair in the deal that sent National League batting leader Luis Arraez to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Last month, the Giants used their first three picks in the amateur draft on pitchers, selecting Jackson Flora<\/a> (No. 4), Carson Bolemon (No. 29) and Kaden Waechter (No. 55).<\/p>\n

Hernandez, 17, is San Diego\u2019s No. 21 prospect, per Baseball America. He signed for $1.4 million out of Cuba, and his calling card is his athleticism. Over 41 games in the Dominican Summer League, Hernandez hit .303\/.424\/.503 with four home runs and four steals with 43 RBIs.<\/p>\n

Ray, who pitched six innings of one-run ball<\/a> against the Padres last Thursday, is the latest Giant to be traded in recent hours. Arraez<\/a> was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies earlier today, while right-handed starter Tyler Mahle was sent to the Atlanta Braves<\/a> on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the trade deadline coming up, I just tried to put everything out of my head as far as leading up to this start,\u201d Ray said on Thursday. \u201cObviously, it comes up now that this could be my last start in a Giants uniform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray ends his time in San Francisco with a 24-16 record and 3.54 ERA over 61 appearances with 336 strikeouts over 335 2\/3 innings. This season, Ray has a 3.08 ERA and 4.51 FIP over 122 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

Following the trades of Ray and Mahle, the Giants will need to determine how to fill their spots in the rotation.<\/p>\n

Right-hander Adrian Houser, jettisoned from the rotation following extended struggles, could get one of those spots. Houser, who signed a two-year deal in the offseason, posted a 5.73 ERA over 14 starts before being moved to the bullpen. As a reliever, he\u2019s had a 2.10 ERA over 25 2\/3 innings. It will be worth seeing if the Giants entertain using an opener for Houser, an avenue they did not pursue before moving him to the bullpen.<\/p>\n

The other could go to\u00a0rookie right-hander Blade Tidwell, who the Giants acquired from the New York Mets in the Tyler Rogers trade last year.<\/p>\n

Tidwell, 25, has made eight appearances with San Francisco this season, all out of the bullpen, but has spent most of the year as a starter in Sacramento. Over 16 games (15 starts) with the River Cats, Tidwell has posted a 4.38 ERA and 4.89 FIP over 72 innings. He\u2019s struggled with command, but he\u2019s struck out more than a quarter of the batters he\u2019s faced and features an intriguing deep pitch mix.<\/p>\n

Ray made his debut with the Giants in the second half of 2024 after extensive elbow rehab, which began in Seattle and continued in San Francisco. Ray, as expected, was inconsistent in his return, with a 4.70 ERA over seven starts, but his 43 strikeouts over 30 2\/3 innings were reason for optimism.<\/p>\n

The left-hander entered the offseason healthy after returning and proceeded to put together one of the best stretches of his career during the first half of 2025, earning his second All-Star selection. Ray lost steam down the stretch but finished his first full season (and only full season) with the Giants with an 11-8 record and 3.65 ERA over 182 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

Ray\u2019s 2026 season started rough, but he had a 1.09 ERA over 49 1\/3 innings with 41 strikeouts over his last eight outings for the Giants, increasing his trade value in the weeks ahead of the deadline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO \u2014 The Giants understood the risks when they traded for Robbie Ray a year and a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[2135,184,7,23726,402,181,1334,395,101,396,4820,103,102,104,106,105,127],"class_list":["post-423655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-baseball","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-giants-hq","tag-inside-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-peninsula","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-county","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}