Bay Bridge Blowout: Giants Drop $180 Million Bombshell, Stealing Free Agent Target From Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers were long in the market for a middle infielder, but perhaps the pursuit of Juan Soto prevented them from making a move for the best available shortstop. The San Francisco Giants have signed Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Willy Adames to a seven-year, $182 million contract, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Passan also revealed the specifics of the deal.
“Willy Adames will receive a $22 million signing bonus in his deal with the Giants,” Passan wrote on X. “The $182 million guarantee is the third-largest free agent contract ever for a Dominican-born player, behind only Albert Pujols and Robinson Cano. And it tops the $167 million deal of Buster Posey.”
The Dodgers have long been linked to the market for Adames. However, they have made an offer to Juan Soto which could have cost them Adames in the end. Despite the offer to Soto, the Dodgers were able to sign Blake Snell to a $182 million deal. His deal included $66 million in deferrals.
The Dodgers will now watch their arch-rival play Adames up the middle for seven years. Adames is coming off of a career year where he hit 32 home runs, 112 RBIs and stole 21 bases. All three were career highs. Adames was never going to be in the Brewers’ budget. Owner Mark Attanasio noted that they would have loved to keep Adames, but they knew they may not be able to outbid others.
“I think the free-agent contract is going to be very valuable for him and quite high,” Attanasio told reporters earlier this year. “We’ll do what we can to stretch, but others have bigger pocketbooks and, we’ll see what happens.”
