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

Another need the Adames signing addresses for San Francisco is the relative lack of power in the lineup, though it remains to be seen if the club pursues more upgrades in that department.

Adames, 29, had a big year in 2024, belting 32 homers with a .794 OPS and strong defense at short for the Brewers. His two-pronged skillset -- hitting homers and making slick plays at a premium defensive position made him the best shortstop available in this year's free agent class.

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Adames by the numbers

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 is a breakdown of this move from all angles, via MLB.com experts:

What this means for the Giants
Via Giants beat writer Maria Guardado

Adames will give the Giants a potent middle-of-the-order bat and much-needed stability at shortstop, where the club struggled to find an internal successor to franchise icon Brandon Crawford in 2024. Adames¡¯ arrival should allow the Giants to shift Tyler Fitzgerald to second base, helping to upgrade their infield defense as a whole.

Because the Giants exceeded the Competitive Balance Tax threshold this past season, they¡¯ll be subject to stiffer penalties for signing Adames, who rejected a qualifying offer from the Brewers last month. San Francisco will have to give up 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 >

Hot Stove implications
Via senior national reporter Mark Feinsand

Adames is the first major position player to sign 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 is somewhat surprising that Adames signed before Juan Soto.

Some teams in the Soto market -- the Yankees in particular -- viewed Adames as a potential Plan B, but Adames landed a $182 million payday with the Giants. If San Francisco was his desired destination, then signing before Soto makes sense, as the Giants were not in on the star outfielder.

The shortstop market won¡¯t change much with Adames signed, but for teams looking to add an impact bat on the left side of the infield, Alex Bregman is now the primary option available. The other top bats available include Pete Alonso, Christian Walker, Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hern¨¢ndez and Jurickson Profar.

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Diving deep
Via analyst Mike Petriello

The Giants now have the 15th-best projected shortstop position in baseball, per FanGraphs, and if that sounds more than a little underwhelming given the franchise-record contract they just gave Adames, we would agree. But it also tells you just how many shortstops live in that ¡°quite good but not really great¡± level, floating around with the Dansby Swansons and Anthony Volpes of the game.

Again, that sounds like faint praise. It¡¯s not intended to be. Adames has hit 20+ homers in the last five full seasons, and he¡¯s cut his strikeout rate in the last four. He does it with usually quality defense, though Statcast has never found his yearly fielding consistent, and in fact graded him as merely average in 2024. It¡¯s not unusual to underrate a player who is good at lots of things, and not really elite at any of them.

There is, perhaps, still a further breakout year in here, because we¡¯ve seen Adames be great defensively some years, but not all; we¡¯ve seen his OBP fluctuate from 2022¡¯s poor .298 to as high as .348 and we¡¯ve seen his slugging percentage range from .407 to .481. If he could ever do the good versions of those things in one year, he¡¯d be a borderline MVP candidate.

As it stands, Adames is more a good-to-very-good player than a star, which is more than a little useful. He also gives San Francisco the side benefit of A) letting 2024 breakout Tyler Fitzgerald play second, and B) not having to ask Matt Chapman to play short, as had been briefly rumored.

Stat to know
Via MLB.com research staff

140: That's how many home runs Adames has hit while playing shortstop since 2019, his first full MLB season. He ranks second over that period, behind only Francisco Lindor (145) and just ahead of Corey Seager (138). Over the same span, Adames ranks second in RBIs (435) and walks (312) and third in doubles (163) and total bases (1,308) accrued at shortstop.