The San Francisco Giants have been one of the biggest disappointments in baseball this season, prompting the front office to explore operating as sellers this summer. Amid a flurry of MLB trade rumors this week about a potential firesale, there is now more buzz regarding the future of Matt Chapman with the team.

MLB insider Robert Murray spoke to executives around the league who said that Chapman is “the most appealing” trade target of the group that also includes Rafael Devers and Willy Adames.

 Matt Chapman Trade Landing Spots

• Matt Chapman contract (Spotrac): $25.166 million AAV (2026-2030)

It’s no surprise that Chapman is the most coveted player among the highly-paid trio. He is a Gold Glove Award winner at third base who can still provide well above-average fielding at the hot corner as a 33-year-old. On top of that, he is also outproduced Adames by a wide margin this season and offers far greater positional value than Devers.

However, there is a complicating factor. Chapman has played 10 seasons in the majors and has a full no-trade clause. He also made it clear to reporters this week that he prefers to remain in San Francisco, especially since he is a California native.

Rafael Devers Trade Landing Spots

• Matt Chapman stats (2026): .252/.337/.400, .737 OPS, 7 home runs, 41 RBI in 309 plate appearances

As a result, per Murray, San Francisco is not expected to move him this offseason. That makes it even more likely that the club’s highest-paid players remain with the team for the remainder of the season, with president of baseball operations Buster Posey expected to pursue alternative options.

More than likely, the Giants will instead be trading the likes of Robbie Ray, Tyler Mahle, and Luis Arraez. All three veterans are on expiring contracts, so San Francisco will attempt to get whatever it can for them on the trade market next month.

 Willy Adames Trade Landing Spots

DENVER (KDVR) — An early morning fire on Friday left a home completely ablaze in the Highlands neighborhood, just a week after another house under construction went up in flames in the same area.

The Denver Fire Department shared photos of the incident, as crews were called to 3643 Mariposa, where images show a fully consumed home under construction.

“I think they [firefighters] kicked in the neighbor’s door just to make sure nobody was at home,” neighbors Lucy and Kyle said. “Some of the other houses, their windows got blown out from the heat!”

Just 11 days earlier, on June 8, a home under construction caught fire in the same neighborhood near West 33rd and Navajo. Nobody was hurt in either fire.

And just about two years earlier, in July, another fire in the same area ignited around West 36th and Osage. All of the properties are/were under development by the same group.

“I wasn’t present for any of the fires,” Ryan Yoffe, a member of the developer group, said.

Yoffe does say he thinks he knows how the last two fires had been set, saying it’s the City of Denver that needs to do better with surveillance.

“It’s likely related to the amount of homelessness in the area, looking for properties under construction to live in or burn down,” Yoffe said. “The City and the Police Department need to do a better job patrolling to limit the number of homeless people camping in the neighborhood.”

Denver Fire Department officials say the most recent incidents are under investigation, but that nobody was hurt in either.

Social media is absolutely flooded with the images, video and words showing a vibrant city and region full of the joys of our soccer heritage. The supposedly dying city of Seattle put on an exceptional show for the world’s game and once again is convincing USMNT players to consider the Sounders for their next stop.

None of that happens with a suburban stadium in Renton. None of it.

The championship banners in Lumen? They’d be gone, reducing the symbols of local soccer excellence from the TV feed.

All those packed local bars with their Sounders scarves, posters and kits? Gone.

This isn’t a hypothetical. Plenty of MLS teams are in metro areas hosting the World Cup. The other US MLS teams aren’t getting this kind of love. LA hosted a bigger US win, but that match experience was not an advertisement for the Galaxy or LAFC.

When Santa Clara hosts the Round of 32 match you are not going to hear a word about the 50-year-old San Jose Earthquakes. If the US advances to the semis in Arlington you won’t hear a peep about FC Dallas. If they make the final in East Rutherford the Red Bulls will be a footnote.

But when the world’s game comes to Seattle the Sounders are the conversation, because this team is in the heart of a city and region that loves it.

Ripping the Sounders away from these types of moments for revenue control while eliminating the free marketing to players and fans is laughable. Renton’s Legacy Square is doing a wonderful job for thousands of visitors a week. It is not Seattle. Nor is Southcenter’s shows in Tukwila.

Moments like Friday, the future Women’s World Cup matches and maybe even a US Round of 16 with hundreds of thousands of people experiencing Seattle’s soccer culture are only possible while soccer is a major tenant in a downtown stadium.

It’s why Don Garber praises the Sounders, and hardly ever mentions the flood of owners who built tiny houses in the burbs. “MLS isn’t what it is without the Sounders.”

The Sounders aren’t what they are without Lumen Field in Seattle. Full stop.

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Catching up on Sounder at Heart

Here’s what you missed on the site this week.

World Cup

Next Seattle match: Wednesday, June 24 between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Qatar.

Sounders

Next match: July 16 hosting Portland Timbers during rivalry week.

Reign

Next match: July 4 at North Carolina

Defiance

Next match: June 21 vs Real Monarchs.

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NWSL and women’s soccer

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