Willy Adames was a central component of a 2024 Milwaukee Brewers team that overcame significant personnel losses to win the NL Central. Now he, too, is leaving.
The former Brewers shortstop agreed to a seven-year, $182 million contract with the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The deal, which is pending a physical, reportedly includes a $22 million signing bonus.
The deal is the largest in franchise history by total value, surpassing Buster Posey’s eight-year, $167 million contract signed in 2013. Posey recently became the Giants’ president of baseball operations, putting him in a key position with this deal.
Because Adames turned down a qualifying offer, the Brewers will receive draft pick compensation from his new team.
Adames’ exit comes a year after the Brewers saw the departures of ace Corbin Burnes, manager Craig Counsell and president of baseball operations David Stearns last winter. They regrouped admirably, winning 93 games in 2024, but now must find another way to continue their stretch of NL Central excellence.
The deal rewards Adames for a career season in 2024 in which he hit .251/.331/.462 while holding down shortstop for an MLB-best 161 games. He didn’t enter free agency with the juice of, say, a Trea Turner or Xander Bogaerts (both of whom got at least $280 million), but he was easily the top player at the shortstop position this winter, not to mention the No. 5 player on the Top 50 free-agent board at Yahoo Sports.
Adames has been one of the most underrated players for years, as evidenced by the fact that he has never made an All-Star Game, despite being a shortstop with a career 109 ERA+. He is an above-average hitter capable of playing the game’s most important position outside of the battery, and those players get paid.
It feels so long ago, but Adames’ run as an underrated player began when he was the shortstop not named Wander Franco on the Tampa Bay Rays. During his fourth season in Tampa, Adames was traded to Milwaukee to make room for Franco, a can’t-miss prospect whose career ended in a Dominican courtroom over disturbing allegations.
The Brewers enjoyed the fruits of the deal immediately and have since received 14.0 WAR from Adames over the course of three-and-a-half seasons. He was a defensive keystone, a middle-of-the-order bat and a clubhouse leader. Milwaukee built its recent teams on quiet moves turning into big wins, and Adames was one of the biggest examples.
