Sports

5 SF Giants with the most to lose for the rest of this already lost season

Around the Foghorn · Jul 21, 2026 20:00 · 3 min read

5 SF Giants with the most to lose for the rest of this already lost season — San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants catcher Daniel Susac (6) between plays against the Washington Nationals during the sixth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The 2026 season is already lost for the SF Giants but these five players still have a lot to play for.

The SF Giants won’t be playing “meaningful baseball” the rest of this season in the sense that wins and losses don’t really matter all that much at this point. Yet, on an individual level the rest of this season will in fact mean a lot.

Players are fighting to stay on the roster or prove that they are still worth holding onto. In some cases guys are simply playing for pride to show that they can turn things around and put up respectable numbers on the season.

The 2026 season may already be lost but for these five Giants there is still plenty to lose in the next few months.

5 Giants who still have a lot to play for in 2026

Daniel Susac

The Giants felt good enough about Daniel Susac’s performance in the first month of the season that they were willing to trade away Patrick Bailey. Susac has cooled down after his hot start and he’s also been injured quite a bit.

On the season he is hitting .264/.308/.336 with no home runs and 14 RBI. Those are okay numbers, but they certainly don’t scream “catcher of the future.”

Susac is a Rule 5 guy meaning the Giants have to keep him on the roster all season or else the A’s can get him back. Susac should be safe, but the team does have three rookie catchers on the roster so if Drew Cavanaugh and Jesus Rodriguez perform well then he could be the odd man out.

Trevor McDonald

The Giants seem very likely to hand things over to their younger rotation arms after the trade deadline since they seem poised to deal Robbie Ray and probably Tyler Mahle as well.

That means Trevor McDonald will have a chance to make his case for next year’s rotation. He has had an uneven season so far with a 5.12 ERA on the year. He had to leave Monday night’s game due to an elbow issue so hopefully he’s alright because he’ll have to have a strong finish to the season if he wants to be part of the 2027 rotation.

Grant McCray

The Giants have Grant McCray on the big league roster only because Jonah Cox, Victor Bericoto, and Harrison Bader are all on the IL. While McCray’s speed has always made him an interesting player, it really feels like Drew Gilbert has taken his place.

He only has a couple at-bats this season and will probably be sent back down whenever those outfielders get healthy so he really has to try to make an impression soon otherwise he may never break through with the Giants.

Adrian Houser

The Giants signed Adrian Houser to a multi-year deal in the offseason thinking he’d be a solid starter. He’s how in the bullpen but he may get another shot in the rotation assuming he doesn’t get dealt at the deadline.

Teams probably won’t be stumbling over his services so he should be safe especially since he’s under contract for next season. If Houser wants to have any hope of remaining part of San Francisco’s plans for next season he has to pitch well in these closing months.

Willy Adames

It’s been a bad year for shortstop Willy Adames. Even when he does something great like on Monday night when he hit a game-tying homer with the Giants down to their final out, he follows it up with a boneheaded defensive play that cost the Giants the game.

It will be really hard to trade him so he needs to prove that his decline this year was just a minor blip and is not a preview of the type of player he’s going to be for years.