San Francisco Giants Lineup Projection Includes Huge Free Agent Splash

The San Francisco Giants need a big splash to contend with the rest of the National League West and this lineup projection does the trick.

Sep 24, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Willy Adames (27) enters the dugout to play the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants have mostly been an afterthought in the National League West over the last decade, outside of one outlier 107-win season.

In the 10 years since their last World Series title, the Giants have finished second or better in the division only three times, and have made the postseason only twice in that time.

It has been a decade of mediocrity after what looked to be the beginnings of a dynasty with three World Series titles in five years from 2010-15. But a new president of baseball operations is willing to do anything possible to bring the franchise back to the winning ways that he grew accustomed to.

Buster Posey is one of the most revered players to ever don a jersey for San Francisco and was a member of those three teams that won titles. So he is well aware of what it takes to win.

He has made it clear that he is willing to make a splash in free agency this winter, and in the first 2025 Opening Day lineup projection from Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report, he has the club making a big splash.

Here is how the projected lineup looks:

CF Jung Hoo Lee
RF Mike Yastrzemski
SS Willy Adames
3B Matt Chapman
LF Heliot Ramos
1B Carlos Santana
DH LaMonte Wade Jr.
2B Tyler Fitzgerald
C Patrick Bailey

"Can the new-look Giants front office, led by Buster Posey, do a better job getting top-tier free-agent talent to sign on the dotted line?" asks Reuter. "Locking up Matt Chapman was a great first step, and shoring up the left side of the infield by landing Willy Adames would move the needle in a major way."

Landing Willy Adames would be a major coup for the Giants in more ways than just one.

While he would add another bat to their lineup, they would also be keeping him away from the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have made their interest in the shortstop clear for many years now, even trying to acquire him via trade from the Milwaukee Brewers last offseason.

Adames has hit 30 or more home runs twice in his career, something San Francisco has not had a player do since Barry Bonds hit 45 in 2004, but he would not be able to reach that total at Oracle Park.

While many see the Giants as a suitor for outfielder Juan Soto, they will likely be in play for any bat that can help them get the baseball over the fence more consistently.

This would still add a solid bat to the middle of their lineup, giving them the much-needed depth that they have not had in recent years, and it would move them that much closer to divisional contention.