Report: Former Cy Young winner could be traded at the deadline

A former Cy Young Award winner may have to sleep with one eye open for the next couple of months.

San Francisco Giants left-hander Robbie Ray could potentially be available for trade ahead of the Aug. 3 deadline, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported on Friday. Heyman notes that Ray may be “near the top” of available arms on the trade market.

Ray, 34, is in his 13th career MLB season and has already put together quite the resume. He was the AL Cy Young Award winner in 2021 with the Toronto Blue Jays and also led Major League Baseball in strikeouts that season with 248. On top of that, Ray has made two All-Star teams in his career (in 2017 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and in 2025 with the Giants).

This season for San Francisco, Ray continues to impress (albeit on lower strikeout numbers). He holds a 3.04 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP with 49 Ks over nine total starts, serving as one of the Giants’ most reliable starting pitchers.

But San Francisco does have plenty of incentive to trade Ray. He is in the final season of his contract at $25 million, and the Giants stink this year at 18-26 (second-worst in the National League).

San Francisco does still have some time to turn around their fortunes over the next two-and-a-half months before the trade deadline. But Ray figures to be one of their most valuable and logical trade chips and could even draw interest from some of the prominent teams that pursued him in years past.