SAN FRANCISCO — There are plenty of numbers that can encapsulate Willy Adames’ impact as a player. The totality of those numbers — 150 home runs, 472 RBIs, .766 OPS, 15 outs above average, 21.5 WAR — equated to the largest contract in franchise history. There are no numbers, however, that encapsulate Willy Adames’ impact as a person.
“To win championships, you have to have personalities like Willy that are able to identify with everybody in the clubhouse,” said president of baseball operations Buster Posey. “That’s not just players. I’ve heard from multiple people that Willy treats everybody with the utmost respect. He plays with energy. He plays with joy. And I know that our fans are going to just be thrilled to watch him compete on a daily basis.”
Posey is far from the only person to praise Adames’ personality since the shortstop officially signed his seven-year, $182 million contract with the Giants. At the Winter Meetings in Dallas, Pat Murphy, Adames’ manager last season with the Brewers, said “the human being that he is, that’s what makes him great.” Craig Counsell, who managed Adames in Milwaukee before taking a job with the Cubs, described Adames as “a unique connector of people.”
For Adames, the human side comes first.
“I think for me, it comes first to be a great human being. I have to thank my parents for that. They raised me the right way, to try to treat everybody the right way, to treat everybody the same,” Adames said. “That’s something that I’m really proud of, just to be the same guy every day, just to be kind, give love back to people. There’s a lot of hate out there and I don’t really like that. I’m just trying to be genuine and trying to be a great person.”
The Giants, of course, didn’t sign Adames solely because of his personality. Adames, the player, can hold his own, too.
Adames and Matt Chapman, who signed a long-term deal of his own, represent one of baseball’s best shortstop-third base combos. To Posey, they are the best.
Along with Adames and Chapman, who recently won his fifth Gold Glove, the Giants feature excellent fielders across the diamond, a defensive unit that also features Gold Glover Patrick Bailey at catcher and Gold Glove finalist Mike Yastrzemski in right. Adames expressed his excitement to play alongside the likes of Chapman, Logan Webb, Heliot Ramos, Tyler Fitzgerald and Jung Hoo Lee, who Adames believes is “going to be a superstar.”
Those gloves and that talent could be alluring to a certain pitcher who Adames played alongside in Milwaukee.
Adames spent three seasons with the Brewers sharing a dugout with Corbin Burnes, the top free-agent pitcher on the market. He’s yet to communicate with Burnes about signing with San Francisco, but that will soon change now that Adames is officially a Giant.
“I haven’t talked to him, but I will definitely give him a call after today,” Adames said. “You always want a guy like him. You’re always going to have guys that are going to compete out there for you, and having a guy like that would be such an amazing addition.”
With left-hander Max Fried receiving an eight-year, $218 million deal from the New York Yankees, Burnes stands to sign a contract somewhere in the $250 million range. That figure would eclipse Adames’ $182 million as the largest in franchise history. For now, Adames holds that honor — an honor he snatched from Posey, whose $167 million contract now ranks second.
“I didn’t know until it was done. I was like, ‘Wow,’” Adames said. “That’s kind of crazy to me because Buster’s a Hall of Famer. I don’t even know what to tell you. I don’t want to say the wrong words and get fired the next day.”
Barring the unforeseen, Adames will not lose his spot on the Giants’ roster anytime soon. If Adames has it his way, he will be in the starting lineup every day.
Adames played a career-high 161 games last season, one short of playing the full slate. Similar to Chapman, Adames is one of baseball’s more durable players. Since 2019, Adames and Chapman rank 19th and 21st, respectively, in games played. To manager Bob Melvin, no team in the league wouldn’t want a player like Adames.
“The thing that strikes me the most is when I’d watch him play a couple times a year on the other side, he never looked like had a bad day,” Melvin said. “It always looked like every day was Opening Day to him. When your best players are like that — Matt Chapman is like that too — it’s easy for everybody to have to fall in and play in that type of style.”
In due time, Adames will assume the responsibility of suiting up every day, of bringing winning baseball back to San Francisco. On Thursday at Oracle Park, he was afforded the luxury of basking in his record-setting deal — and dreaming of bringing titles back to the Bay.
“This is a dream come true for me. I’m thrilled to be here. I’m so excited, and hopefully, we can win a few championships like (Posey) did,” Adames said. “Those (’10, ’12, ’14) championships were amazing. I want to be part of something like that while I’m here.
“It’s going to be up to us to do what they did. I’m excited to help (Posey) create that winning culture here again.”
