About halfway through the Giants series versus the Mariners, you could see how the trade deadline was going to get screwed up. The Giants had a 3-0 lead to start the seventh inning of Saturday’s game, just nine outs away from their fourth consecutive win. Over in the American League, the Red Sox have won 14 consecutive games and surged back into postseason position, and the Red Sox are basically the Giants for people who swear more. With a winning streak even half that long, the Giants were going to turn the easiest trade deadline imaginable into a game of will-they-won’t-they? that absolutely nobody needed.Then the lead disappeared and took the sure win with it. Then the losing streak started. Monday’s game featured a ninth-inning comeback and still made you livid. This team isn’t going to be confusing at the deadline. They’re too bad at baseball for that. The trade deadline is back on, even if it was never really off.As such, we asked for your fake trades, and you came through. And, friends, even by the standards of the internet, did you have some embarrassingly uninformed and ridiculous trade ideas. I love it. Let’s dig in.As always, apologies to those whose suggestions weren’t used, but it wasn’t practical to use them all. Also, by the end of reading them, I started hallucinating trade proposals like “Robbie White Sock to the Rays.” The whole comments section should come with an EPA warning, really.Instead of ranking the best ones (or admitting that any of them are good), let’s collect them by player and see if we can get some continuity going.What kind of prospect trade return should the Giants target?We have to ask the most important questions. The first question is, trade for what? — Susan S.What is the right strategy, try to trade for more mature prospects that may help next year, or trade for guys who may not arrive until 2028 as some young homegrown position players hopefully come up to the majors? Both? — Michael M.Unlike the draft, the trade deadline doesn’t make you repeat a “best player available” mantra until your tongue falls off. It’s perfectly reasonable to take the immediate needs of the roster and farm system into account when coveting other teams’ prospects. A starting pitcher with a high floor and a medium ceiling would mean much more to the Giants in 2027 than a teenager with no floor and a Hall of Fame ceiling. A teenaged middle infielder, even if he’s a tooled-up top-100 prospect, would create a logjam that could only get resolved by sacrificing reps and innings up the middle.Another consideration: The Giants are going to add roughly 20 players to the system once they’re through signing their 2026 MLB Draft class. They’ll also sign a couple of undrafted free agents, like they’ve done with another one of Rocklin High’s finest. There are instructional leagues and complex leagues and what have you, but the roster spots are finite. The Giants aren’t going to turn down a quantity-of-quality offer like they got for Camilo Doval last year, but I doubt that’s what they’re seeking.With all of that out of the way, you can ignore most of it in favor of a simple truism: The Giants are trying to find future major leaguers. That’s the mandate, to hold out for the prospects they believe in the most. There will be a lot of fake trades below that include prospects who have lost a little luster and need additional polishing. If the Giants believe that they are the team to do the polishing, then they should consider them. If they’re just as confused as the rest of us but are willing to “give it the ol’ college try,” maybe they should focus on prospects with less uncertainty.Other than all of that, though, they’re going to look for the best future major leaguers, whether they’re 17 and still pitching in the Dominican Republic or they’re 24, out of options and already in the majors.Luis Arraez trade ideasLuis Arraez to the Rays for SP Santiago Suarez (No. 10 prospect) and SP Ty Johnson (No. 18) — Chris M.Luis Arraez to the Rays for TJ Nichols (No. 8 prospect) and Slater de Brun (No. 11). Rays get one of the best second basemen in baseball this year and another weapon to lengthen their lineup. Giants get a solid pitching prospect and another potential long term answer in center to compete with Jonah Cox, Grant McCray and others. Who says no? — Joshua R.Luis Arraez to New York Yankees for minor league pitchers Ben Hess and Cade Smith. — David R.Luis Arraez for Gage Wood straight up because Dave Dombrowski is at that stage of his job cycle where he’s going scorched earth on his team’s farm system for any substantial improvement. — Ricky S.Giants receive: Jacob Kmatz, Bryce Shaffer; Rays receive: Luis Arraez. Giants get a potential back-end reliever in Kmatz and an extremely funky, Tyler Rogers-ish lefty reliever in Shaffer. Both could help the big-league team as soon as next year. — Ben W.Arraez to Tampa Bay for Brady Hopkins and Caden Bodine. — Matthew P.Something we’ve clearly established: The Rays sure are a good fit for Luis Arraez. That makes sense, considering that every team is a good fit for Arraez, even a non-contending team in the Giants’ position, but the Rays have a lineup that’s in need of a little more traffic ahead of Junior Caminero and Yandy Díaz, and they’re starting journeyman Richie Palacios at second base. It’s the trade that makes itself.I’m wondering if the Rays and Giants will match up, though. It’s not that the Rays won’t trade any of their best prospects — they’ve been reasonably aggressive in the past, trading away prospects like Joe Ryan — but that they prefer to get team control instead of a rental for that prospect cost. Every team does, but the dynamic is baked into the Rays’ business model more than most.Luis Arraez is a good fit for what the Rays need now, but will his expiring contract scare them off of a potential deal? (Scott Marshall / Associated Press)This matters because Arraez seems like the kind of player who could get a GM or president of baseball operations to do something impulsive. He’s instant clubhouse confetti, someone who can emit all-in particles to the rest of the roster, even if he’s the only player acquired at the deadline. All it takes is for two teams to think he’s the missing piece.That’s why the Phillies’ Gage Wood idea is both silly and plausible. It errs on the side of silly — c’mon, one of the best pitching prospects in the minors for a couple months of Arraez? — but if the Giants add some players with team control or lesser prospects or …This is probably overthinking it. Of all the trades up there, David R.’s Yankees suggestion is probably the most realistic. Both of the pitchers were getting a lot of attention coming into the season, but they’ve taken a small step back. The Yankees probably aren’t eager to sell low on them, but they also aren’t eager to trade from the tippy-top of the system.The Kmatz-Shaffer combo appeals to me the most, however, as someone who prefers his bullpen stocked with weirdos and freaky arm angles.Robbie Ray trade ideasRobbie Ray and cash to the Cubs for 2B/OF James Triantos (No. 7) and SP Brooks Caple (No. 14). — Chris M.Robbie Ray to the White Sox for Drew Thorpe (former top 100 prospect, now recovering from TJ surgery). White Sox are surprisingly in the playoff hunt and need a reliable starter; Thorpe probably isn’t in their plans anymore but still has potential, and the Giants need to build up their pitching prospects. — (username …)Robbie Ray (pay his remaining contract) and Keaton Winn to Milwaukee for Bishop Letson and Bryce Meccage. — Ken C.Robbie Ray and random minor leaguer for Joshua Baez. St. Louis gets the left-handed starter they need, Giants get a young outfielder who can mash and is blocked by the Cardinals’ outfield logjam. And one more: Robbie Ray to Atlanta Braves for Hurston Waldrep and Ethan Bagwell. — David R.Robbie Ray’s trade value is a complicated sucker. He’s owed the prorated portion of a $25 million salary, which knocks his value down a bit, and his Baseball Savant page is almost all blue ink (the bad kind). All of the teams will pay more attention to those metrics than his 3.33 ERA.Still, there’s a cost certainty that comes with Ray that doesn’t come with, say, Reid Detmers of the Angels. You can see a plausible scenario in which Ray is starting a postseason game and his new team is happy about it. Once Tarik Skubal is traded to the Dodgers, teams are going to scramble for possible postseason starters, and Ray would be one of the few remaining with a chance to crack a postseason rotation’s top three.He’s not likely to bring back a top-100 prospect, though. That’s more of an educated guess than a bold prediction, but the difference between Ray and the rest of the pack shouldn’t force a team to do something impulsive. These other teams have access to MLB.tv, too.If the prospect often has a number next to his name — as in, he’s the third-best prospect in a system, or the 98th-best prospect in baseball — he probably isn’t someone the Giants will get for Ray. Also, I know Ethan Bagwell isn’t related to Jeff, but even the minuscule chance that he starts his delivery from an uncomfortable squat is too horrible to consider. The Giants reject that one on principle.While I think adding a young, cost-controlled pitcher like Keaton Winn to a deal would appeal to teams like the Rays and Brewers and possibly get the Giants a better prospect in return, once you start adding complications and abstractions like that, it makes it more likely that teams find an agreement on a much simpler deal, like the one with the White Sox for Drew Thorpe, a starter who blew through the minors after being drafted, but is just coming back from Tommy John surgery.That’s the template for a Ray trade, I’m guessing: an imperfect prospect for an imperfect deadline starter. The White Sox probably say no to Thorpe, but if the Giants eat salary or otherwise sweeten the pot, who knows? That feels like the right kind of return here, considering the supply (medium) and demand (high, always).Willy Adames trade ideasAll the joke trades are pretty tired by now and I’m not the kind of fan who can put together a complicated trade package that looks authored by an MBA but I know the Braves need a competent, non-IL shortstop. Any legs to the thought of sending Adames to Atlanta for Ha-Seong Kim plus whatever else it takes to cut bait? — Chris W.Braves get: Willy Adames, plus $5 million annually beginning in 2027, plus a 19-year-old low-rated pitching prospect. Giants get: Ha-Seong Kim — Tanner T.This one may get me bullied in the comments but hear me out … Adames for Francisco Lindor. — Ian S.Buddy, that last one is going to get you bullied in the article. But there were a lot of Adames ideas in the comments, so it’s clear that he’s in plenty of deadline fantasies.Adames for Lindor seems wacky because it is, but there’s at least a little meat on the bone there. The reports out of New York are that Lindor and Juan Soto are either very different personalities who mostly ignore each other, or that they want to kill each other, or that they’re somewhere in between. Lindor is owed $15 million more than Adames over the next five years, which wouldn’t be much to the Giants, but it means a heckuva lot to the Mets, who are over the luxury tax. There are no-trade clauses to deal with and other such nonsense, but you can almost …The Mets say no, though. There’s just not enough salary relief to give up the better player, even if he’s older. The Braves also say no to anything involving Kim; his prorated salary for the rest of the season feels like a rounding error compared to the rest of Adames’ contract.The Braves would consider it for a second because Adames is still a helpful player if his defensive numbers are a blip, which is still the likeliest explanation for his brutal Outs Above Average this season. Think of a lot of defensive stats like a batting average after the first couple months of a season. You should be worried when a previously solid player is hitting under .200, but it isn’t always a sign that he’s irreversibly cooked. Adames should make his teams better in some capacity for the next couple seasons, at least.Adames isn’t anything close to a $31 million player, though. The gap between the two is why he won’t be traded. (Although I would have written something similar about Mitch Haniger a couple years ago, so it’s not completely impossible.)Tyler Mahle trade ideaTyler Mahle to the White Sox for RP Gabe Davis (No. 22 prospect) and OF/2B Rikuu Nishida (No. 26) — Chris M.Putting this here to remind everyone that a team will trade for Mahle on purpose. I love the idea of Nishida, a 5-foot-6 left-handed batter with sub-Kuiper power, playing in Oracle Park. In my head, he hits .350 and becomes one of the most popular players in recent memory, but my head is kind of a mess. There’s a reason I didn’t graduate college until my 30s.I could honestly see something like this, though, with a team giving up a prospect at the back end of their system in exchange for innings, please, any innings at all. If that prospect becomes something, why, the Giants still might have time to win the 2026 offseason.Matt Chapman trade ideasBuild a trade (with Seattle) around Matt Chapman and Luis Castillo. — Gerald R.Matt Chapman, assuming he agrees, to the Yankees for a low-level pitcher with some upside. Giants pay $3 million per year starting in 2027. — John D.Unlike Adames, Chapman is playing like his typical self on both sides of the ball. His OPS is currently in the high-.600s because it’ll do that, but he’s still on pace to be a WAR machine because of his defense and well-rounded skill set. He’s owed slightly more than $100 million over the next four years, so the Giants might need to send money back in exchange for a solid prospect return, but he’s at least tradable.The “assuming he agrees” is a big if, as Chapman has a full no-trade clause. Another complication is that he’s on the IL currently, albeit with an injury that isn’t likely to linger. The most likely option is that Chapman stays put and Casey Schmitt takes over at second base, and this arrangement lasts until prospects make it complicated.Against my better judgment, I can’t stop staring at the Luis Castillo idea, though. J.P. Crawford is going to be a free agent, so he’s not a long-term solution for the Mariners at third base. Castillo will be owed over $24 million next season, and he has the potential to throw enough innings (180) for his player option in 2028 to vest. He’s also the kind of pitcher where the innings can be of dubious quality, so that might be a bug, not a feature, for his team.The salaries don’t offset entirely, but they offset enough to bring Chapman’s salary down enough to match his production and get a conversation started. It would get the Giants another starter for next season, when they should still have a lineup worth building around, and it would be a change of scenery for the currently struggling Castillo.My guess is that the Mariners (or Chapman himself) say no to this deal, but I can’t stop thinking about it, and the Mariners have one of the few decision makers (Jerry Dipoto) with a penchant for saying “let’s just do it and be legends” and making gut decisions.It’s much harder to see a traditional prospects-for-veteran deal involving Chapman, though, even if the Giants take on salary. Chapman is still a good player, but he’s an extremely tricky one to move when your phone keeps buzzing and there’s an hour left before the deadline.Heliot Ramos trade ideasThe trade Eno Sarris proposed on his podcast, Ramos (to Philadelphia) for Andrew Painter. — Craig D.Gage Wood for Heliot Ramos. Who says no, Dave Dombrowski or Buster Posey? — David R.Heliot Ramos to Seattle for Ryan Sloan (No. 2 prospect), Teddy McGraw (No. 12) and a PTBNL. — Joshua R.Ramos won’t be a free agent until after the 2029 season. But he’s also about to enter arbitration, and he’s limited on defense and against right-handed pitching. This wouldn’t be like the Nationals trading Soto years before free agency. The Giants aren’t going to build a lineup out of a Ramos trade return.It’s also possible to both underrate Ramos’ trade value and overrate it, depending on what you focus on. He’s under team control for three more seasons after this one, yes, but at increasing costs. Ramos is a steal right now, but he merely becomes underpaid next season, with a chance of him quickly catching up to his fair-market value. The rights to pay a lefty killer $10 million in a couple years doesn’t have that much appeal when there’s typically a few available every offseason.Heliot Ramos' adjustments could lead to a big second halfEno Sarris and Derek VanRiperOn the other hand, three years is a long time, and Ramos is still just 26. There might be teams comfortable with the idea that he’ll improve with some tweaks, too. I think all of the teams up there say no to those specific deals, but there has to be a sweet spot out there. The Guardians seemingly have at least one or two outfielders every year who hit like a blindfolded Barry Zito, so they’ll be happy to get some cost certainty with an established player like Ramos.On the other other hand, Ramos is a solid young player who will be around for years if his team wants him to be, and that’s easy to appreciate, too. Trading him might be an overreaction to a good month from Victor Bericoto, who is just two years younger than Ramos. The Giants have only one reason for considering a Ramos trade: They want to see if another team forces them to make a deal.The gap between the two extremes is probably too hard to fill. Ramos is a limited player; Ramos is a valuable player. The combination makes it likely that he’ll still be on the Giants in August.Drew Gilbert trade ideaDrew Gilbert for Hayden Wesneski. Houston needs a left-handed hitting outfielder who they can platoon and Gilbert’s .789 OPS versus righties should be attractive to them even if ideally they would like more power. Wesneski is recovering from Tommy John. Both players are similarly controllable. — Jay O.The Astros say no to this one because it’s harder to find a starting pitcher than a platoon bat, even considering their immediate needs, but it’s a good proposal to highlight because it shows a different way the Giants can be aggressive at the deadline. If the Giants don’t see a path to Gilbert developing into a starter against left-handed pitching, they should absolutely consider a deal like this. This is also how they should think about all of the currently helpful and underpaid players on the roster. If they see fatal flaws in a player that outside organizations don’t — say, Landon Roupp’s strike throwing or Schmitt’s swing decisions — then team control might matter less than the talent being offered for them.It’s unlikely that the Giants will make a trade like this, but it’s would be where the very best prospects would be found. Give a team a player who will be around through 2028, and they’ll give you a prospect who might stick around through 2038. That’s the best-case scenario, at least.