Willy Adames, the top free-agent shortstop on the market, has reached an agreement with the San Francisco Giants, according to ESPN. The deal will pay him $182 million over the next seven seasons, and serves as the Giants’ first major transaction executed under the leadership of new top baseball operations executive Buster Posey. The contract is a record high for the Giants, passing the $167 million deal for Posey himself.
Adames, 29, spent the last three and a half seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. Over that span, he hit .244/.323/.457 with 107 home runs and a 113 OPS+. His contributions were estimated to be worth 14 Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference.
CBS Sports recently ranked Adames as the sixth-best free agent on the market. Here’s what we wrote at the time:
Adames cinched a new single-season high in home runs and notched his fifth consecutive three-plus-win season (excluding 2020’s sprint) thanks in part to a white-hot August. For the most part, he’s the same player he has been for years: he’s capable of impacting the baseball frequently enough to overshadow his swing-and-miss tendencies; he’s not a Gold Glove-caliber fielder, but he’ll remain at shortstop for the time being; and so on. The one interesting wrinkle he added this season was a newfound willingness and ability to steal bases. If we had to guess, we would pencil Adames in for a sweeter deal than the seven-year, $177 million Dansby Swanson received a few winters ago.
Last season, the Giants gave three different players at least 20 starts at short, including Tyler Fitzgerald and Nick Ahmed. Adames will stabilize the position for the Giants while forming a capable left side of the infield next to Matt Chapman.
San Francisco is coming off a disappointing 80-82 season that resulted in a fourth place finish in the National League West.
