Giants sign Willy Adames

The Giants and shortstop Willy Adames have agreed to a seven-year, $182 million deal, according to a report from ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser first reported that talks between the sides were “gaining momentum.” Passan adds that the CAA Sports client will receive a $22 million signing bonus as part of the deal, the largest in Giants history.

Adames, 29, was the best shortstop on the market this winter and goes to a team that has openly expressed its desire to move up at the position this winter. They’ve now done that by bringing in one of the league’s steadiest players on both sides of the ball to take over the position. Thanks to that consistency, Adames was worth at least 3.1 fWAR and 3.0 bWAR in each of his five full 162-game seasons in the majors. A career 109 wRC+ hitter who batted a strong .251/.331/.462 (119 wRC+) with Milwaukee in 2024, the addition of Adames as a center field bat should help improve a Giants offense that hit just one hit managed 98 WRC+ last year. While San Francisco’s 112 wRC+ at shortstop last year was a strong stat, much of that performance was thanks to the multi-position bat Tyler Fitzgeraldwho later took over the position but was a lackluster defender last year with a -4 in Outs Above Average. Adames was rated just a +1 by the OAA last year, but posted excellent +16 and +10 ratings in the metric in 2022 and 2023 and should be a big improvement for the club’s defense, which is a forms a dynamic tandem with the third baseman Matt Chapman on the left side of the infield.

More to come…