On Saturday afternoon, Robbie Ray made what was almost certainly his last start as a San Francisco Giant, throwing six scoreless innings and earning the win. The final tally on his Giants career: 59 starts, 329 2/3 innings and a 3.58 ERA. He had the misfortune of playing for the franchise during one of its more fallow periods, but he will be remembered as a Good Giant™.Ray should be the Giants player you think about the most this deadline, and not just because he’s likely to be traded. He’s also someone who can remind you of a very important lesson when it comes to this Giants roster, and it goes something like this: It’s hard for a contract to be completely untradeable. Just look at how the Giants acquired Ray.You can almost see what Seattle Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto was thinking when he traded Ray for Mitch Haniger and Anthony DeSclafani in January 2024. If he was going to pay tens of millions of dollars to someone, he might as well pay it to two players who could help right away, instead of a single pitcher recovering from Tommy John surgery. It’s true that when all of them were healthy, that Ray was the best player, but immediacy counts for a win-now team like the Mariners were at the time.It wasn’t a complete disaster for the Mariners. Haniger was just as bad for them as he was for the Giants, except he got twice as many plate appearances, but DeSclafani was flipped for Jorge Polanco, who became a helpful player for them. If you assume that Polanco wouldn’t have re-signed with the Mariners without the trade, you can count his WAR from 2025. That brings his value to the Mariners close to what Ray gave to the Giants.Before acquiring Ray, the Giants were not thinking they could trade either Haniger or DeSclafani. I never thought to write an article about their trade prospects. They were as immoveable as players could be, right up until they were moved.There isn’t always a Jerry Dipoto to out-wacky your front office in a wacky pageant, but sometimes there is. (And it might even be Dipoto again. The wacky stuff seems to be working for him.)Consider the teams that might match up with the Giants’ larger contracts (Willy Adames, Matt Chapman and Rafael Devers). There are more potential buyers than you might think. Let’s look at a few. (Note: All salary figures are approximate. I’m not getting a calculator out for you.)Atlanta BravesUnderperforming positions of note: SS (21st-ranked WAA), 3B (22nd)Underperforming players still owed a lot of money: Austin Riley, 3B ($132 million), Sean Murphy, C ($30 million)Players they might consider: Willy Adames, Matt ChapmanYou might remember Riley as a young go-getter who was constantly making All-Star Games and such. In a recent article detailing his slump, however, The Athletic commenters weren’t as charitable:• “He’s killing this team right now”• “His approach at the plate looks lazy and uninspired”• “Has he had a vision exam? Would love to know”