Millionaire athletes probably aren’t owed a chance to play in the postseason, but the exceptions might be Hall of Fame-bound Justin Verlander and player favorite Wilmer Flores, who won’t have a shot if they remain on the 2025 San Francisco Giants. Because Major League Baseball scrapped the August waiver trades, the only way for them to find a spot on a would-be playoff teams is for the Giants to cut them*. That makes for a harsh-sounding headline, but the reality is that the San Francisco Giants have two
veteran players who might be owed a shot at ending their seasons on a more winning note. Let’s examine when the best time would be for Buster Posey to release Justin Verlander and/or Wilmer Flores.
*-Technically, they would both be designated for assignment first, at which point the 29 other teams would have the chance to claim them and automatically take on their full salary; however, it is extremely unlikely that teams would take on the remaining $3.67 million owed to Justin Verlander or even the ~$890,000 owed Wilmer Flores, which means that in order to avoid that DFA delay (one week) — as players must be added to an organization before September 1st in order to be eligible for postseason play — the Giants would, if they’re serious about helping them find a new team, be better off cutting them to make them free agents immediately.
Why they won’t
I think the Giants are fine with cutting certain players, but not just any player, and there are quite a lot of fans, season ticket holders, and shareholders who don’t understand the waiver rules who might be upset with Justin Verlander getting cut. There’s also the whole thing about how it’s a white flag move, and I’m very certain the franchise wants to make sure fans don’t feel that they’ve given up. Now, after watching the team’s play on the field over the past month, it’s impossible to think otherwise, but the organization taking the next step via transaction is a confirmation bias that will offend fans, because at the end of the day, hope is a core part of fandom.
Plus, they need Verlander’s innings. The Giants are running out of arms who can give them even 4 solid ones.
Wilmer Flores might not want to be cut; he might not be all that interested in trying to find a new job and would rather prepare to heal up in the offseason and find work then. It’s a little hard to believe that this is his sixth season with the Giants. But the premise of this article is that the players would want to find an opportunity elsewhere and Buster Posey & Zack Minasian would be happy to oblige them. It would mean the Giants will have traded or cut 4 of their last 5 Willie Mac Award winners, though.
Why they will
The Giants have cut or traded 3 of the last 4 Willie Mac Award winners, though. They traded Mike Yastrzemski and cut LaMonte Wade Jr. & Thairo Estrada. At the time they were moved, it was clear their best days were behind them. Since Wilmer Flores’s 2023 (when he was the best hitter on the team by far), he’s posted a .656 OPS over his last 171 games. 2024 was sort of a lost season, but even here in 2025 he’s been just barely a league average hitter. But since June 15, he’s slashed just .220/.286/.280 in 31 games (112 PA) on a .259 BAbip. He’s been worse against left-handed pitching (.638 OPS) than right-handed (.716). He doesn’t quite fit on the roster at this point, but if some other team could use him as an inspirational pinch-hitter, I’d have to think the Giants would give him that chance while they try to see if somebody they have under contract in 2026 might be able to hit big league pitching.
Carson Whisenhunt is eligible to return to the majors on August 27th, which means Justin Verlander will have the chance for 2-3 throwcases for other teams while the Giants have a chance to get some solid innings from their rotation. Verlander alongside a just-returned Landen Roupp gives the Giants four starters, and that should be enough to get them through August. It seems hard to believe that if Verlander’s cut the Detroit Tigers won’t take a flyer on him (if he’s pitched okay).
There’s a very slim chance that some team will claim Verlander and/or Flores, too, thus saving the Giants a little bit of money. When the Angels put a half dozen players on August waivers back in 2023, it was to get back under the luxury tax threshold. That’s not the case with the Giants, but given how this season has destroyed all optimism about the franchise, flat or lower revenues for 2026 and beyond seems pretty reasonable, and so saving money wherever possible just sounds like smart business. So would making a better team, but as the Giants have shown us for years and years, that’s next to impossible.
