The San Francisco Giants swung big and missed on Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, making runs at but failing to reel in the biggest free agent the past two winters.
This time, they tried a different tactic, sitting out the Juan Soto sweepstakes – yet still doled out the biggest contract in franchise history.
The Giants and shortstop Willy Adames have agreed to a seven-year, $182 million contract, according to a person with direct knowledge of the agreement. The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity because the deal has not yet been finalized.
Adames, 29, slugged 32 home runs last year for the Milwaukee Brewers, his second 30-homer season in the past three. The starting shortstop for the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2020 World Series, he was traded to Milwaukee a year later and has emerged as one of the most reliable sources of middle infield power in the game.
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That does come with some cost. Adames is strikeout-prone – he whiffed 173 times last season – and his strikeout rate has never dipped below 25%. His production can be volatile from year-to-year, as his adjusted OPS has ranged from 121 to 110 to 94 to 118 between 2021 and 2024.
But he’ll add a significant dimension to the largely punchless Giants, who have hovered in the 80-win range ever since winning a franchise-high 107 games in 2021.
Three years of mediocrity resulted in the firing of baseball operations chief Farhan Zaidi, who was replaced by future Hall of Famer Buster Posey. Posey was the previous recipient of the Giants’ biggest contract ever, a $167 million extension that took him to the end of his playing career in 2022.
Now, it is Adames who holds that distinction. Whether he can maintain his prodigious power numbers as he ages is open to question. But there’s no denying the immediate punch he gives them up the middle, and alleviating the pressure on young slugging infielder Tyler Fitzgerald, who socked 15 home runs last seaosn and presumably would move to second base.
