Which “players with other teams” texted Matt Chapman after he signed his extension?

Let’s speculate… irresponsibly.

In the immediate aftermath of yesterday’s press conference to announce Matt Chapman’s 6-year, $151 million extension with the San Francisco Giants, the talk was all about this comment made by the player himself:

The conventional wisdom that sprung up around this moment suggests that it’s because the team has turned around its reputation, league-wide, that free agents are more than willing to consider the team in the offseason, reversing an increasingly stubborn narrative.

I’m not so sure of that, but underneath her very own post, Slusser engaged with one of the angry Giants fans responding to her comment as though it was an attack directed at them and brought up a very good point about the truthfulness behind Chapman’s statement:

So, let’s all act in good faith and believe that he’s not stretching the truth to make the extension seem more sensational. With Chapman anchored to the Giants for the rest of his career, he’s attracting other players.

Just for fun, let’s speculate on who some of those guys could be. He didn’t specify “guys I played with,” which is wise because it sidesteps that touchy subject of tampering, but he has played with guys who are on other teams. I’m not sure of his reputation with random players across the sport, but he seems like a good guy and he’s played in both leagues and two countries, so, I figure his imprint is quite large.

I’m separating the list into tiers because tiers are best.

Tier 1: The obvious

Franklin Barreto, Richie Martin, Cavan Biggio

These are former teammates who are just barely hanging onto the dream. Barreto played with Chapman in both the minors and on the A’s, Martin was only in the minors, and Biggio was on the Blue Jays — and he’s currently a River Cat! He’s slashing just .163/.413/.326 in 12 games (63 PA) so I’m sure he’s mostly agitating for Chappie to get Zaidi to call him up for September. These are all still guys who are, technically, on other teams and might be available to the Giants in the offseason.

Tier 2: Yeah, sure, makes sense

Ramon Laureano, Jurickson Profar, Frankie Montas, Danny Jansen, Brandon Belt, Michael Lorenzen

Laureano might be a nontender, while Profar — who’s preparing to blast the Giants to obliviion this weekend — and the others are all free agents at year’s end. Of course, Belt has been a free agent all of 2024 and might simply be texting Chapman to say that he can help him beat Zaidi in Fantasty Football this season… for a price.

Profar is a switch-hitting outfielder who will be 32 next season and is very clearly having one of those big seasons before hitting free agency. In 139 games (585 PA), he’s slashing .278/.383/.461 (.845 OPS) with 22 home runs and 82 RBI. Also, rather impressively, 70 walks against 87 strikeouts. His 137 OPS+ is significantly above his career average, though: 92 OPS+ in 961 games (3,623 PA).

Jansen will be 30 and coming off a dreadful season (84 OPS+ ) that’s mainly notable for him playing for both teams in the same game. But! In 2022 and 2023, he hit .242/.324/.493 in a part-time role with the Blue Jays. Could be a more interesting backup than Tom Murphy.

Lorenzen was another late free agent signing, but he fared better than Snell and Jordan Montgomery in the early going and pitched good enough for the Rangers (3.81 ERA in 101.2 IP) that they were able to trade him at the deadline to the Royals, where he’s been fine (24.1 IP in 5 starts — 1.85 ERA / 4.21 FIP). Lorenzen and Chapman were college teammates early last decade on Cal State Fullerton.

Tier 3: Wouldn’t that be something?

Now, there are likely more interesting names that could be involved here — certainly, if you search Matt Chapman’s name in combination with the big-name pending free agents (Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes — as well as this titillating comment from Scott Boras), you’ll get articles immediately speculating based on Chapman’s comment — but there could also be a great many players we wouldn’t think of, who we probably don’t see as many major leaguers anymore, who are still fishing for work.

But then there are those players whom we’d never think up because they are just so good that it’s hard to believe Matt Chapman’s presence on the Giants would make a difference. This is why we have tier 3.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

“Matt, should I demand a trade?”

“Yes, Vladito. 100%. Come to SF”

{cry-laugh emoji}

Toronto is unlikely to trade Canada’s own Guerrero, but if their relationship is strong, what about 2026? In theory, the Giants might be entering their next competitive window then (or be only 2-3 years away from the next one). Maybe Matt Chapman’s got a bit of Bene Gesserit in him, measuring plans in centuries, soft recruiting players 1-2 years out?

Mike Trout

In 2023, TOPPS put out a card series of “Superstar Talk” cards and one of those is a card where Matt Chapman and Mike Trout are chatting. It’s not a tremendously valuable card (yet). Here’s an eBay listing:

The back of the card reads is titled “Veteran Combos,” and the caption reads:

Matt was starring at Cal State Fullerton when Mike debuted in 2011. Like many others, the third baseman instantly became a fan of the five-tool Angels star. They chat often when their teams meet. “It’s always awesome to play against him,” Chapman says of Trout. “He is in my opinion the best player in the big leagues and maybe the best ever to do it.”

Now, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. might not have the leverage to force a trade, but I’d venture that Mike Trout surely does and the Angels, after already suffering the blow of losing Shohei Ohtani, might be inclined to do so, too. I think it’s extremely improbable and pushing the boundaries of plausibility, of course, but this post isn’t reality. It’s fantasy.

Like, what if Matt Chapman, Mike Trout, and Vlad Guerrero Jr. are all friends with each other and Chapman’s just laying down runway for both of them to land with the Giants? That’s fiction, right? That trio doesn’t have a preexisting relation—

Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images

Well then.