Willy Adames signs with Giants analysis

The Giants filled their shortstop need by inking free-agent slugger Willy Adames to a seven-year, $182 million contract, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The contract represents a franchise record for the Giants, surpassing the mark set by current president of baseball operations Buster Posey with his extension in 2013 ($167 million).

Another issue facing Adames signing in San Francisco is the relative lack of power in the lineup. However, it remains to be seen whether the club will strive for further improvements in this regard.

Adames, 29, had a big year in 2024, hitting 32 home runs with a .794 OPS and strong defense for the Brewers. His two-pronged skillset – hitting home runs and crafty plays at a premier defensive position – made him the best shortstop available in this year’s free agent class.

2024: 161 G, .251 BA, .331 OBP, .462 SLG, .794 OPS, 32 HR, 112 RBIs, 4.8 fWAR
Career: 880 G, .248/.322/.444, .766 OPS, 150 HR, 472 RBIs, 21.3 fWAR

Here’s a breakdown of this move from all angles, from MLB.com experts:

What this means for the Giants
Via Giants Beat author Maria Guardado

Adames will give the Giants a strong center field bat and much-needed stability at shortstop, where the club struggled to find an internal replacement for franchise icon Brandon Crawford in 2024. Adames’ arrival was intended to allow the Giants to move Tyler Fitzgerald to second base and helped improve their overall infield defense.

Because the Giants exceeded the Competitive Balance Tax limit last season, they face stiffer penalties for signing Adames, who declined a qualifying offer from the Brewers last month. San Francisco must forgo its second- and fifth-highest selections in the 2025 draft as well as $1 million from its international bonus pool for the upcoming signing period. MORE >

Effects on the hot stove
About senior national reporter Mark Feinsand

Adames is the first major position player signed this offseason, and while he wasn’t competing with other shortstops for his huge deal – Ha-Seong Kim is the No. 2 shortstop on the market – it’s somewhat surprising that Adames signed before Juan Soto.

Some teams in the Soto market – notably the Yankees – viewed Adames as a potential Plan B, but Adames earned a $182 million return with the Giants. If San Francisco was his desired destination, then signing ahead of Soto makes sense since the Giants weren’t banking on the star outfielder.

The shortstop market won’t change much with the signing of Adames, but for teams looking to add an impact hitter on the left side of the infield, Alex Bregman is now the first available option. Other top hitters available include Pete Alonso, Christian Walker, Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hernández and Jurickson Profar.

Dive deep
About analyst Mike Petriello

The Giants now have the 15th best projected shortstop position in baseball according to FanGraphs, and if that sounds more than a little disappointing given the franchise-record contract they just gave Adames, we’d agree. But it also shows you how many shortstops live at that “pretty good but not really great” level, floating around with the Dansby Swansons and Anthony Volpes of the game.

That also sounds like faint praise. This is not intentional. Adames has hit 20-plus home runs in the last five full seasons and has lowered his strikeout rate in the last four. He does this with what is typically a high-quality defense, although Statcast has never found his annual fielding performance to be consistent and actually only rated him as average in 2024. It’s not uncommon to underestimate a player who is good at a lot of things and not really elite at all of them.

Maybe there’s another breakout year here, as we’ve seen Adames be great defensively some years, but not all; We’ve seen his OBP fluctuate from a poor .298 in 2022 to as high as .348 and we’ve seen his slugging percentage fluctuate between .407 and .481. If he could ever do the good versions of those things in one year, he would be a borderline MVP candidate.

Currently, Adames is more of a good to very good player than a star, which is more than useful. He also gives San Francisco the side benefit of A) letting 2024 breakout prospect Tyler Fitzgerald play second and B) not having to ask Matt Chapman to play as a backup, as was briefly rumored.

Knowing statistics
Via MLB.com Research Staff

140: That’s how many home runs Adames has hit as a shortstop since 2019, his first full MLB season. He placed second during that period, behind only Francisco Lindor (145) and just ahead of Corey Seager (138). During the same period, Adames ranked second in RBIs (435) and walks (312) and third in doubles (163) and total bases collected at shortstop (1,308).