San Francisco Giants Boss Confident in Willy Adames' Defense After Down Year

The San Francisco Giants made the largest signing in franchise history with their new shortstop Willy Adames.

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The San Francisco Giants just handed out the largest contract they've ever doled out to a free agent by bringing in their new shortstop Willy Adames on a seven-year, $182 million contract.

Spending that kind of money at the most important defensive position on the field would hopefully yield results of not just elite offense, but elite defense as well. And while Adames has never been the best in the league defensively, he has always been beyond solid and especially good in the two seasons prior

But defensive metrics graded out Adames in 2024 significantly worse than he had been in 2022-23 with a right around league average negative 16 Defensive Runs Saved after being worth 17 DRS in the two seasons prior.

Nobody knows the ebbs and flows of baseball better than Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey, who played for San Francisco and won three World Series rings behind the plate.

He says that the Giants are not concerned with the drop off in 2024 for Adames in the field.

"I experienced it myself from time to time. You have a great defensive year, then the next one's down," Posey said via NBC Sports. "Sometimes, I think the way the metrics work, some errors that you make will probably paint a picture that's not as true as what your eyes know for a defender. I think some of what we saw was throwing errors last year that, one way or another, can be cleaned up..."There was never anything glaring we saw where we were like, 'Ah, is this guy really a great defender?' We believe wholeheartedly he's a great defender."

A vote of confidence from Posey went long enough for San Francisco brass to hand over the huge deal to Adames, who now figures to come in and be the team's shortstop for the better part of the next decade.

Even if Adames does grade out as an average defensive shortstop — something that doesn't seem likely given what he has been for the majority of his career — his offense will more than make up for it in terms of value.

Since 2022, only two other shortstops — Corey Seager and Francisco Lindor — have hit more home runs from the shortstop position than Adames has with 87 bombs. Adames has consistently raked at the plate and continues to be one of the best hitters in the game coming off arguably the best season of his career.

While Adames will be under a close microscope this season after the investment the Giants made in him, it's unlikely that you will catch him making many errors in his first season in the Bay Area.