MLB Executives Concerned About San Francisco Giants Major Free Agency Addition

The San Francisco Giants have been one of the most pleasant surprises in baseball with the stellar start the team has gotten off to this season.

There has been just enough offensive production to aid the Giants in getting off to a 21-13 start, helping keep pace with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in the loaded National League West.

But, if they want to keep pace beyond just the first month of the season, they are going to need more than center fielder Jung Hoo Lee, third baseman Matt Chapman, second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald, right fielder Mike Yastrzemski and designated hitter Wilmer Flores to produce.

Those five have been carrying the load to this point, and with Fitzgerald sidelined because of a fractured rib, San Francisco needs other players to step up and start producing.

Catcher Patrick Bailey and first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. have struggled mightily, both hitting under .165 with OPS+ numbers of 32 and 41, respectively.

Them getting on track would be huge for the offense. But the player everyone is keeping their eyes on is shortstop Willy Adames.

The first major addition of the Buster Posey era as team president of baseball operations, the star shortstop agreed to a massive eight-year, $182 million deal in free agency. It was the largest contract in franchise history and the second biggest for a positional player this past winter.

With that came some incredibly high expectations to live up to. He was signed to add another impact bat to the lineup to help elevate the team’s offensive production.

To this point, he has fallen woefully short of those expectations.

Through 34 games and 149 plate appearances, Adames has a .215/.302/.300 slash line. The power output that drew the Giants to him in free agency has not been there yet with only two home runs and five doubles.

That is part of the reason executives around the MLB are concerned with his performance, selecting him as the most disappointing player in the league over the first month of the season.

“Early struggles on both sides have stood out more, given the expectations tied to being a key addition for the Giants this offseason,” an AL executive said in a piece written by Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

His struggles at the plate are certainly concerning, but given his track record, he deserves some benefit of the doubt. Pressing while attempting to perform up to a massive contract with a new team is nothing new in baseball.

Eventually, he will settle in and find his groove.

The most concerning development has been his defense, or lack thereof.

Adames turned himself into a Gold Glove-caliber defender at shortstop in 2022 and 2023 with a +20 Run Value. His production dropped significantly in 2024 and thus far in 2025 it has fallen all the way off the cliff.

He already has a -4 Run Value through only 289 innings. Adames is arugbaly the worst defender in baseball thus far, ranking in the first percentile Fielding Run Value.

“The Giants have to be worried already about how this signing will age,” added an NL exec.

There were some teams considering him as an addition to play third base, but that isn’t the case with San Francisco. Chapman isn’t moving off the hot corner any time soon, and if Adames doesn’t figure things out with the glove, they will be in the market for another shortstop much sooner than they had anticipated.

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