SAN FRANCISCO — If catcher Buster Posey is the heart of the Giants, then shortstop Brandon Crawford is the rest of the team’s circulatory system.

They are Gold Glove winners at the two most prized defensive spots on the diamond, they both recently turned 30 years old and there is no version of a successful rebound for the Giants in 2018 and beyond if they do not perform up to expectations.

They are also the two active players that the Giants would not entertain dealing away under any circumstances, either before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline or after this season.

Does this mean the rest of the roster is kindling for a midseason fire sale? Well, not exactly. A trade is only worth making if it is worth making. And other than third baseman Eduardo Nuñez, who is an impending a free agent, and second baseman Joe Panik, who hasn’t gotten into his arbitration years yet, all of the Giants’ other chief assets are either in steep decline this season, or have sizable financial obligations attached to them, or (gulp) both.

Here’s a run through the list of key players whose names could come up in trade chatter in the weeks leading up to July 31 , along with their contract information and a shot-in-the-dark prediction (infotainment purposes only!) on what major league uniform they might be wearing down the pennant stretch.

JOHNNY CUETO

Contract status: Making $21 million this season. Owed an additional $89 million through 2021 ($21 million annually), including a $5 million buyout on a $22 million club option for 2022. Can opt for free agency after this season. Receives $500,000 assignment bonus if traded.

Comment: Any team that acquires Cueto would have to view him as a rental, since he’s likely to opt out. But the acquiring team also would be taking on some risk if he were to sustain a major injury, knowing they could be staring at some expensive damaged goods. Cueto has made a career of proving his durability in the face of skepticism, though. The Giants like Cueto and he likes it in San Francisco, but his opt-out will be solely an economic motivation, so they have to assume he’ll be gone after the season unless they plan to extend him this summer – and how could they, given how much money they already have committed in future seasons? So perhaps they’re best served playing the Astros, Yankees and Cubs against one another to acquire one of the few bona fide aces who has excelled in October. Who knows? Given the supply-and demand-dynamics between contenders and available starters, maybe the Giants could even extract more for Cueto than the Reds did from the Royals (Brandon Finnegan and two pitching prospects) in 2015.

Prediction: Traded to Yankees.

MATT MOORE

Contract status: Making $5 million this season. Giants hold team options for $9 million in 2018 ($1 million buyout) and $10 million in 2019 ($750,000 buyout).

Comment: The Giants gave up Matt Duffy and $6 million bonus baby Lucious Fox last year at the trade deadline to acquire Moore, who has the highest ERA in the National League and has been a huge disappointment. But the Giants also continue to believe in Moore’s youth and stuff, to the point where they’d still likely pick up his option for next season. It would take a run of four or five strong starts to rebuild his value to the point where the Giants could get a return that might be worth dealing him. Right now, they’re better off trying to spend the second half fixing what’s wrong and hoping to get a workhorse season out of him next year. Their rotation will need innings.

Prediction: Stays put.

JEFF SAMARDZIJA

Contract status: Making $18 million this season. Owed an additional $54 million through 2020 ($18 million annually). Limited no-trade protection (can select eight clubs to which he would accept a trade).

Comment: He is 3-9 with a 4.63 ERA, but might be a 10-game winner if he wore Astros orange or Yankees pinstripes or whatever the Diamondbacks are wearing these days. Samardzija has a flat-out ridiculous 82-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio over his last 11 starts – the fewest walks any Giants starter has issued over an 11-start span since Christy Mathewson in 1914. If he could get his home run rate under control, he’d be in the Cy Young conversation. It’s hard to imagine a contender unloading the prospect cart to make it worth the Giants’ while to trade Samardzija, especially with a lot of money due to him. They need a stable rotation if they plan to contend next year. Samardzija is as steady as an innings supplier gets, even if some of those innings end up being crooked numbers.

Prediction: Stays put.

JOE PANIK

Contract status: Making $600,000 this season. Eligible for free agency after 2020 season.

Comment: He’s a cost-controlled Gold Glove winner and contact man who seldom strikes out, even if his gap power plays better in the lower third of a lineup. Teams like him and will ask for him. That doesn’t mean they will overwhelm the Giants to get him. And it’s not as if Christian Arroyo is such a can’t-miss prospect that the club could easily plan to move him to second base and justify parting with Panik. Sure, the Giants were willing to deal a popular player in Matt Duffy, but they had a hunch they were selling high. Many in the front office believe that they haven’t seen the best of Panik yet.

Prediction: Stays put.

EDUARDO NUÑEZ

Contract status: Making $4.2 million this season. Eligible for free agency after this season.



Comment: He wants to re-sign with the Giants. He might be a fit in a super-utility role in 2018. But there’s no sense keeping him around if the Giants can get something for him now. Don’t expect the return to be overwhelming. All it took to get Nuñez last year at the deadline was Adalberto Mejia, a left-handed prospect with a few conditioning-related red flags who has become a back-end rotation option, and that was when Nuñez was in the midst of an All-Star season with the Twins.

Prediction: Traded to Red Sox.

HUNTER PENCE

Contract status: Making $18.5 million this season. Owed an additional $18.5 million in 2018. Has full no-trade clause.

Comment: Two special assignment scouts for contending clubs recently said they would recommend Pence, if only because he is a difficult matchup for any pitcher and has been a disruptive lineup presence in the postseason. But the Giants would have to pay almost all the freight, and there’s a lot of it. That makes it tough to envision Pence going anywhere. He’s still a popular player here, even if he’s becoming a cautionary tale about how unorthodox players don’t age well. In all honesty, Pence should be in a platoon with Denard Span in an outfield corner next year.

Prediction: Stays put.

DENARD SPAN



Contract status: Making $9 million this season. Owed an additional $13 million through 2018, including a $4 million buyout on a $12 million mutual option for 2019.

Comment: Free Gorkys! OK, maybe not. Span isn’t owed as much as Pence, so perhaps an interested party in need of a fourth outfielder/bench bat could be convinced to pay down a little of his contract. Span still has a knack for getting the bat on the ball and keeping a slow heartbeat in big situations, with some surprising pop down the line. But dealing players for salary relief is not the Giants’ primary motivation, unless they’re unloading a major commitment that gives them flexibility for the great 2019 free-agent class. Span doesn’t fall in that category, and teams don’t part with major league talent for role players. Whatever the Giants end up doing with Span, it’s clear that they absolutely must seek an everyday defensive upgrade in center field before opening day.

Prediction: Stays put.

BRANDON BELT

Contract status: Making $2.8 million this season. Owed $64 million through 2021 ($16 million annually). Limited no-trade protection after this season (may block deals to 10 selected teams).

Comment: That’s not a misprint up there. Belt’s salary jumps from $2.8 million to $16 million next season. Want to know something? He is just as polarizing within the organization as he is to fans. Love him, leave him, quantify him any way you want. Giants CEO Larry Baer and GM Bobby Evans committed to Belt as part of their core by giving him that extension, but first base is the easiest place to find power from the outside world, and the Giants have been woefully out of fashion as the league trends further and further toward scoring by way of trotting. Freeing themselves of Belt could get rid of a major payroll commitment and give them an avenue to acquire a more prototypical slugger at the position, with Posey also able to get more regular starts at first base in future years. Or … how about Belt to the Marlins for Christian Yelich and a whole lot of Wei-Yin Chen’s dead money? These are probably discussions better held in the GM suites at the winter meetings, though.



Prediction: Stays put, for now.

MARK MELANCON

Contract status: Making $4 million this season. Owed an additional $38 million through 2020, but can opt for free agency after the 2018 season. Has full no-trade clause.

Comment: He’s back on the disabled list for a second time, and has no time to prove his health before the July 31 deadline. With his contract, he could get through waivers and be traded in August, though. The Giants still believe that Melancon can be a rocksteady presence in the ninth inning once he gets healthy, and that they will be a contending team in need of a relief ace in 2018. So they won’t give him away, or pay down his salary. That means he’s staying, unless his pregame routine causes a total clubhouse mutiny – and that would be, well, a stretch.



Prediction: Stays put.

BENCH GUYS

Nick Hundley, Conor Gillaspie, George Kontos, Cory Gearrin, Mac Williamson, Hunter Strickland, Sam Dyson.

Comment: There might be some useful parts here for a contender. We’ll add Williamson to the list because he seems to have fallen completely out of favor, and perhaps another team has good reports on him. He might be a piece in a multiplayer deal. Hundley seems most likely to be moved. There’s always a team that is struggling with catching depth due to injuries or, in the case of the Cubs’ Miguel Montero, making inflammatory statements to the media. Kontos and Gearrin will get a bit more expensive next year if they are tendered contracts as they move further into arbitration, so now might be a good time to see what they might bring. And Strickland? Purpose pitches to Bryce Harper aside, he’s been the Giants’ best reliever this season. They would only move him for non-baseball reasons, and even if any valid ones existed within the clubhouse, the Giants have shown the ability to be exceedingly patient with productive players who require special handling.

Prediction: Hundley traded to Diamondbacks. Gearrin traded to Nationals. Kontos traded to Twins.

MADISON BUMGARNER

Contract status: Making $11.5 million this season. Giants hold team options for $12 million salaries in 2018-19. Has limited no-trade clause (may block deals to eight selected teams).

Comment: Wait. What is he doing here? Well, imagine this scenario: Bumgarner returns at the end of July, makes a dozen starts and looks exactly like his former self. The Giants have two ridiculously affordable options remaining. But the nearer and nearer they get to 2019, the more the pressure will ratchet up to give him that mammoth, $300 million extension – and maybe he’s ever so slightly less a trusted commodity after falling off a dirt bike on an off day. The Giants already have so much future money committed, and they’ve also been down the awkward, declining-star road with Tim Lincecum and now Matt Cain. Maybe they’ve learned a lesson from all that, regardless of how attached they have been to their stars. Besides, this organization has no other assets that could bring back a multiplayer cache of talent. Bumgarner is the nearest thing they have to a Chris Sale. Given their 61-92 record dating back to the All-Star break last year (which is a pretty big sample), their lack of impact prospects in the minor leagues and their $113 million committed in 2019 (which is more than any other team), there is no bigger reset button they could push toward a rapid rebuild than to deal their 2014 World Series MVP. There are some voices within the organization who already feel that way, even if they aren’t the ones who speak loudest yet.

Prediction: Stays put, for now.