Milwaukee, WI
It’s official: Willy Adames’ time with the Milwaukee Brewers is done, fan favorite shortstop heading to San Francisco Giants
Here are our Milwaukee Brewers player grades for 2024
Here are our Milwaukee Brewers player grades for 2024, based on analysis by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writers Todd Rosiak and Curt Hogg
Willy Adames’ tenure as a Milwaukee Brewer is officially over.
Making final what was expected for months, Adames found a home elsewhere in free agency, signing a reported seven-year contract with the San Francisco Giants on Saturday afternoon.
The 29-year-old shortstop is slated to make $182 million over the length of the contract, according to reports, a price tag the Brewers made clear they were not going to pay.
Adames, acquired via trade from Tampa Bay during the 2021 season, had a .780 OPS with 107 home runs across four seasons with the Brewers, not only excelling on the field but becoming a fan favorite and clubhouse leader off of it. The Brewers opted not to trade him entering the final year of team control in 2024 and he responded with a career year at the plate, slugging 32 homers and recording a .794 OPS.
In turn, Adames landed the first marquee contract for a position player this off-season right before the start of Major League Baseball’s winter meetings in Dallas.
Adames’ contract just surprasses the 7-year, $177 million deal Dansby Swanson signed with the Chicago Cubs two off-seasons ago, part of a series of lucrative contracts for free agent shortstops across the league. With Adames two years away from free agency at the time of the shortstop market exploding, it made a contract extension unlikely to happen in Milwaukee despite both sides’ admiration for the other.
As the 2024 season winded down, the Brewers made it clear there was almost no chance of them re-signing Adames in free agency, with owner Mark Attanasio commenting, ‘We’ll give it our best shot but there’s a lot deeper pockets out there.”
The Brewers will receive a compensatory pick for Adames signing with San Francisco. The pick will be between the end of the first round and beginning of the Competitive Balance A round in next summer’s draft.