Willy Adames is on the trade block. The San Francisco Giants shortstop is one of the more surprising names in trade deadline conversations, and if San Francisco really is willing to move him, several contenders will get involved.
Adames signed a seven-year, $182 million contract with the Giants last offseason. He was supposed to be their franchise shortstop. He was supposed to bring stability to an infield that has been in flux. Instead, he has been mostly average at the plate, and the Giants are quietly exploring what he could bring back in a trade.
The offensive production has not matched the contract. Adames is hitting around .240 with a solid but not elite OPS. He is providing decent power. He is playing good defense. But he is not the middle-of-the-order bat the Giants signed him to be. That gap between expectations and reality is why he might be moved.
Adames is 30 years old. He has six years left on his contract. That is a big commitment for any team acquiring him. But some teams will see value in a proven veteran shortstop who is signed long-term at a reasonable rate for the position.
The Giants have been stuck in the middle for years. Farhan Zaidi built a system that produces above-average teams but rarely great ones. San Francisco has not won a playoff series since 2014. The organization needs a real shakeup, and moving Adames could be part of that.
What San Francisco would want in return is complicated. They need young talent. They need pitching. They need bat depth. But they also would need to eat some money on Adames’s contract to make a trade attractive. That is a lot of dollars for the Giants to write off.
The Yankees have been mentioned as a possible landing spot. New York needs a middle-of-the-order bat. They have a young shortstop in Anthony Volpe, but Volpe has been inconsistent. Adames could push Volpe to second base or the bench, and the Yankees would have upgraded their offense.
The Dodgers are another team that has been linked to Adames. Mookie Betts has been moving around the diamond, and the Dodgers have talked about needing to add stability at short. Adames would fill that role, and the Dodgers would happily eat some salary to add another proven bat.
The Braves are always in on veteran bats. Atlanta has a young core, but the veterans on their roster are getting older. Ronald Acuna Jr. is still recovering from injury. Ozzie Albies has had some down years. Adding a proven veteran like Adames could stabilize the lineup.
The Mets are the wild card here. Steve Cohen loves buying stars. The Mets have money, and they need to break through in the playoffs. Adames would give them a middle-infield veteran to pair with Francisco Lindor. The two together would form a formidable double-play combination.
The reality is that trading Adames now would be a massive acknowledgment that Zaidi and the Giants front office made a mistake. They would be admitting the free agent signing did not work. That is a hard admission for any executive to make publicly.
But the alternative is worse. Holding onto Adames for six more years means dedicating $26 million per season to a player who is not producing at that level. The Giants could use that money elsewhere. Even eating a portion of his contract in a trade would be a net win for the organization.
The market for shortstops is thin. Most contenders have a starting shortstop already. The teams that need one are typically rebuilding, and rebuilders do not trade for veterans. So the market for Adames is limited to a handful of contenders willing to eat some money to upgrade.
The player himself has been professional about the situation. Adames has not asked for a trade. He has continued to play hard. He has been a good clubhouse presence. But he clearly is not thrilled with how his time in San Francisco has gone.
The rebuild question hangs over everything. If the Giants trade Adames, they are essentially admitting they need to reset. That is a hard message to send to season ticket holders. But it might be the right move for the long-term health of the organization.
Buster Posey is now in the front office as a special advisor. His voice matters in these decisions. Posey is a franchise legend and knows what it takes to win in San Francisco. If he is on board with moving Adames, that gives the front office cover to make the tough call.
My prediction: The Giants do not trade Adames. The move is too complicated financially, and the return would not be worth it. San Francisco keeps him and hopes he plays better in the second half. They fade from the playoff race but stay in the middle of the pack.
The bigger question for the Giants is whether Zaidi’s job is safe. Multiple bad free agency swings have piled up. The Adames contract is the biggest of them. The next few weeks will tell us a lot about the direction of the organization, and Adames’s future is at the center of it all.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
